ALEXANDER  GOLDSTEIN 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


Abraham  Lincoln  in  1861 
From  a  photograph  by  Hcslcr,  in  possession  of  F.  A.  Brown 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


BY 

WILBUR    F.     GORDY 

-TIIOR  DF   "STORIES   OF   EARLY   AMERICAN  HISTORY,"   "STORIES  OF  LATER  AMERICAN  HISTORY, 

"AMERICAN  LEADERS  AND  HEROES,"  "AMERICAN  BEGINNINGS  IN  KIROPE,"  "COLONIAL 

DAYS."   "AMERICAN   EXPLORERS,"   "ELEMENTARY   HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED 

STATES,"    "A    HISTORY    OF    THE    I'NITED    STATES    FOR    SCHOOLS" 


'  Lot  us  have  faith  that  right  makes  might  ;  and  in 
that  faith  lot  us,  to  the  end,  dare  to  do  our  duty 
as  wo  understand  it." — LINCOLN. 


ILLUSTRATED 


NEW  YORK 
CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS 

1918 


• 


COPYRIGHT,  1917,  BY 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


PREFACE 

IT  is  an  old  and  true  maxim  which  says  that  we  learn 
from  experience;  meaning;  of  course,  our  own  personal 
experience.  But  much  is  to  be  learned  also  from  the  experi 
ence  of  others,  especially  of  the  great  and  the  good  who  have 
lived  before  us.  Herein  lies  the  value  of  biography.  By 
coming  to  know,  through  books,  men  of  great  and  strong 
character,  we  learn  from  their  lives  much  that  is  helpful 
in  living  our  own.  For  if  in  imagination  we  enter  into 
their  purposes  and  plans,  their  sorrows  and  joys,  their 
defeats  and  victories,  we  learn  through  their  experiences, 
and  they  become  in  a  real  sense  our  teachers,  guides,  and 
friends. 

Perhaps  to  Abraham  Lincoln,  more  than  to  any  other 
man  in  the  history  of  our  country,  has  been  given  the  power 
of  influence  over  the  lives  of  those  unknown  to  him.  To 
thousands  who  never  saw  him,  but  who  know  him  through 
his  letters  and  speeches,  and  through  the  record  of  his 
private  and  public  life,  he  is  an  inspiration.  The  story  of 
his  overcoming  the  difficulties  of  his  early  life  has  put  cour 
age  into  many  a  young  heart;  his  resolute  stand  by  what 
he  thought  to  be  right  has  helped  countless  souls  to  be 
true  to  their  duty;  and  the  kindliness  and  good- will  which 
flowed  from  his  great  heart  toward  all — even  his  foes— 

vii 

773171 


viii  PREFACE 

made  the  cherishing  of  malice  and  bitterness  seem  un 
worthy  and  shameful. 

To  know  such  a  man,  as  we  may  know  him  by  the  study 
or  even  the  reading  of  his  life,  cannot  fail  to  inspire  us  to 
nobler  living  and  more  patriotic  service  in  that  little  com 
munity  we  call  our  neighborhood  and  that  larger  com 
munity,  our  country. 

Such  a  hero  and  leader,  who  continues  to  live  in  the 
ideals  and  institutions  of  his  native  land,  is  one  of  its  richest 
possessions;  and  it  is  especially  fitting,  in  days  when  the 
nation  is  again  called  to  take  a  stand  in  a  great  cause,  that 
we  should  learn  to  understand  and  appreciate  something 
of  the  high  purpose  and  immortal  achievements  of  his  life. 

With  that  thought  in  mind,  this  book  has  been  prepared. 
It  is  the  first  of  a  series  called  "  Heroes  and  Leaders  in 
American  History,"  a  series  which  will  include  many  of 
the  men,  in  various  fields  of  service  in  our  national  life, 
who  have  had  much  to  do  with  making  our  country  what 
it  is  to-day. 

In  writing  this  volume  my  aim  has  been  to  make  real 
to  my  young  readers  Abraham  Lincoln;  first  as  a  youth  who 
worked  and  struggled  in  the  backwoods  to  prepare  himself 
for  greater  usefulness;  then  as  a  man  raised  by  his  own 
merits  to  positions  of  responsibility;  and,  finally,  as  a 
leader  of  a  great  nation,  who  through  four  of  the  most 
troubled  years  of  that  nation's  history  carried  its  burdens 
amid  peril  and  crisis;  but  always  and  under  all  circum- 


PREFACE  ix 

stances  as  one  who  was  simple,  honest,  and  friendly,  living 
true  to  high  and  unselfish  motives  of  service  to  his  fellow 
men. 

In  conclusion,  I  wish  to  acknowledge  my  deep  obliga 
tion  to  Mr.  Forrest  Morgan,  of  the  Watkinson  Library, 
Hartford,  and  to  Miss  Elizabeth  P.  Peck,  of  the  Hartford 
Public  High  School,  both  of  whom  have  read  the  manu 
script  and  offered  most  helpful  criticism;  and  also  to  my 
wife,  whose  invaluable  co-operation  and  assistance  has  in 
large  measure  given  to  this  biography  whatever  of  merit  it 
may  possess. 

WILBUR  F.  GORDY. 

HARTFORD,  CONN., 
May  1,  1917. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.     BOYHOOD  DAYS 1 

II.    LINCOLN  AS  A  YOUNG  MAN 29 

III.  LINCOLN  A  LEARNER  IN  THE  SCHOOL  OF  EXPERIENCE  ....  44 

IV.  LAWYER  AND  CITIZEN  IN  SPRINGFIELD 62 

V.    LIFE  AS  A  LAWYER  ON  THE  CIRCUIT     .    . 73 

VI.     THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES S9 

VII.     LINCOLN  ELECTED  PRESIDENT 107 

VIII.     LONELY  DAYS  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE 143 

IX.    LINCOLN  AND  THE  EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION 162 

X.     THE  DARKEST  PERIOD  OF  THE  WAR 188 

XL     GETTYSBURG  AND  THE  TURNING  OF  THE  TIDE 199 

XII.     LINCOLN'S  SIMPLICITY  AND  FRIENDLINESS 208 

XIII.  RE-ELECTION  OF  LINCOLN 222 

XIV.  LAST  DAYS  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE 241 

INDEX 263 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Abraham  Lincoln  in  1861 Frontispiece 

PAGE 

Cabin  at  Nolin  Creek  Where  Abraham  Lincoln  Was  Born 3 

Lincoln  Helping  His  Father  Make  "Camp" 8 

A  Pioneer's  Home 10 

Method  of  Grinding  Corn 12 

He  Would  Work  out  Sums  in  Arithmetic  on  a  Wooden  Shovel    ....  18 

He  Liked  to  Make  Speeches,  and  Often  Amused  and  Entertained  His 

Friends 21 

A  Grocery-Store  of  the  Primitive  Days 24 

Lincoln's  Family  Moving  into  Illinois 31 

He  \Vorked  More  or  Less  at  Odd  Jobs  in  the  Community,  Mostly  Split 
ting  Rails  or  Working  on  the  Farm 33 

Just  in  Front  of  the  Little  Village  of  New  Salem  the  Flatboat  Stranded  36 

Selecting  Lincoln  as  Captain 45 

Abraham  Lincoln  at  About  Thirty-five  Years  of  Age.  From  a  Photo 
graph  after  a  Daguerreotype  in  Possession  of  Hon.  Robert  T.  Lin 
coln  47 

He  Studied  Surveying  Just  as  Thoroughly  as  He  Had  Studied  Grammar  55 

State-House  at  Vandalia  Where  Lincoln  Served  as  a  Legislator  in  1834-5  58 

Lincoln  in  1858— Age  49 63 

The  Edwards  Residence,  Springfield,  Where  Lincoln  Was  Married     .    .  68 

Where  Stuart  and  Lincoln  Had  Their  Law-Office  in  1837 69 

Lincoln  Telling  Stories  in  the  Lounging-Room  of  Congress 71 

Whenever  They  Stopped  for  Dinner  Lincoln  Was  the  Life  of  the  Com 
pany  77 

Court-House  at  Beardstown,  in  Which  the  Armstrong  Case  Was  Tried   .  82 

Lincoln  in  1860 85 

xiii 


xiv  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Stephen  A.  Douglas 91 

Lincoln  in  I860 99 

Lincoln  Greeted  by  Enthusiasts  during  the  Lincoln-Douglas  Debates     .  103 

Lincoln  in  February,  1860 109 

The  "Wigwam,"  Chicago,  in  Which  the  Convention  Was  Held  when 

Lincoln  Was  Nominated 112 

William  H.  Seward 115 

Lincoln  Receiving  News  of  His  Nomination IIS 

Lincoln's  Home,  Springfield     . 120 

Lincoln  Office  in  the  State-House,  Occupied  after  the  Nomination      .    .  122 

Sarah  Bush  Lincoln 132 

Jefferson  Davis 137 

Mary  Todd  Lincoln 139 

Lincoln  in  1861 145 

Edwin  M.  Stanton 147 

Lincoln  and  His  Secretaries,  Nicolay  and  Hay 151 

Interior  of  Fort  Sumter  after  the  Bombardment 153 

Ruins  of  Stone  Bridge,  Where  the  Bull  Run  Stampede  Took  Place     .    .  155 

Long  Bridge,  Washington,  over  Which  the  Troops  Ran  Panic-Stricken 

from  the  Battle-Field  of  Bull  Run 157 

Tad  Lincoln 159 

Willie  Lincoln 160 

Lincoln  at  General  McClellan's  Headquarters 165 

On  the  Battle-Field  of  Antietam 169 

The  First  Reading  of  the  Emancipation  Proclamation 175 

Lincoln  Receiving  the  Delegation  of  Clergymen  from  Chicago     ....  179 

Burnside  Bridge,  Antietam 181 

General  Robert  E.  Lee 182 

Lincoln  in  1863 189 

General  Ambrose  E.  Burnside 191 

Fredericksburg,  Showing  Ruins  after  the  Battle      192 


ILLUSTRATIONS  xv 

PAGE 

General  Joseph  Hooker 194 

General  George  Gordon  Meade 200 

Gettysburg  in  War  Time ' 203 

Lincoln  and  Tad 205 

Lincoln  with  His  Family 209 

Sanitary  Commission  Lodge,  Washington 213 

Harewood  Hospital  near  Washington 214 

Lincoln  Visiting  Wounded  Soldiers 215 

A  Fort  on  the  Potomac  River 219 

Lincoln  in  1864 223 

General  Ulysses  S.  Grant 225 

General  William  T.  Sherman 229 

General  Philip  H.  Sheridan 230 

General  George  H.  Thomas 231 

Draft  Riot  in  New  York  City 239 

Lincoln's  Second  Inauguration,  March  4,  1865 242 

Lincoln  in  1865 243 

Landing  Supplies  at  City  Point 247 

Lincoln  Visiting  Richmond 249 

General  Grant  and  Mrs.  Grant  with  Their  Son  at  City  Point,  Va.      .    .  251 

The  Last  Portrait  of  Lincoln 255 

The  National  Lincoln  Monument  at  Springfield,  Illinois 259 


ABRAHAM    LINCOLN 


CHAPTER  I 
BOYHOOD   DAYS 

IN  the  pioneer  country  of  Kentucky,  not  so  very  long 
before  that  wild,  wooded  region  became  a  State,  began  the 
life  of  one  of  our  nation's  great  men.  There,  in  a  remote 
settlement  on  Nolin  Creek,  about  fifty  miles  south  of 
where  Louisville  now  stands,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  born. 
Nothing  in  his  surroundings  or  his  early  living  conditions 
foreshadowed  the  greatness  of  the  man  or  of  his  career. 
Possibly  the  natural  simplicity  of  his  life  favored  the  growth 
of  a  great  soul.  Certainly  none  of  the  hampering  condi 
tions  of  luxury,  or  even  of  too  comfortable  living,  held  it 
back. 

The  immediate  family  into  which  the  hero  of  our  story 
was  born  was  small,  there  being  only  his  father,  Thomas 
Lincoln,  his  mother,  Nancy  Hanks  Lincoln,  and  a  little 
sister,  Sarah,  two  years  old.  But  there  were  many  bear 
ing  the  names  of  Lincoln  and  of  Hanks  in  the  country. 
Their  ancestry  ran  back  to  the  early  beginnings  of  New 
England,  and  the  names  themselves  were  ancient  English. 

With  the  prosperous  and  successful  branches  of  the 


2  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

family  we  have  little  to  do.  Abraham  Lincoln  himself  in 
his  later  years  knew  little  of  them;  not  even  of  his  grand 
father.  He  said:  "I  am  more  concerned  to  know  what 
his  grandson  will  be."  Knowing,  therefore,  that  among 
Lincoln's  ancestors  there  were  able  and  distinguished  men, 
we  may  pass  over  their  achievements,  and  begin  the  story 
of  Abraham  Lincoln's  life  with  a  brief  account  of  his  father. 

Thomas  Lincoln  was  the  youngest  of  a  family  of  five 
children  who  were  made  fatherless  by  the  shot  of  a  stealthy 
Indian  when  little  Thomas  was  only  ten  years  old.  From 
that  time  he  was  set  adrift,  "a  wandering,  laboring  boy/7 
to  make  his  own  way  in  the  world.  Yet  at  twenty-five  he 
had  bought  a  farm  in  Hardin  County,  Kentucky,  and  had 
learned  a  trade,  being  called  "a  good  carpenter  for  those 
days."  So  he  could  not  have  been  altogether  idle  and 
shiftless,  though  history  has  usually  pictured  him  so.  Be 
sides,  he  was  honest  and  sober,  with  strong  common  sense, 
and  was  considered  by  his  neighbors  good-natured  and 
obliging;  and  his  love  of  fun  and  good  stories,  traits  he 
handed  on,  made  him  unusually  good  company. 

These  qualities,  even  though  he  lacked  thrift  and  am 
bition,  won  him  the  affection  of  the  devoted  woman  who 
became  Abraham's  mother.  She  is  described  as  "  sweet- 
tempered  and  beautiful  .  .  .  the  centre  of  all  the  country 
merrymaking,"  and  "a  famous  spinner  and  housewife." 
She  was  the  niece  of  Joseph  Hanks,  in  whose  shop  Thomas 
Lincoln  had  learned  the  carpenter's  trade.  She  was 


BOYHOOD   DAYS 

twenty-three  years  old  at  the  time  of  her  marriage,  five 
years  younger  than  her  husband,  but  superior  to  him  in 
appearance  and  in  intellect,  and  in  her  ability  to  read  and 
write;  for  until  his  wife  taught  him  after  their  marriage 
Thomas  Lincoln  had  never  learned — possibly  because  he 


Cabin  at  Nolin  Creek  Where  Abraham  Lincoln  Was  Born 

had  been  thrown  upon  the  world  so  young,  or  perhaps  be 
cause  he  had  no  liking  for  books.  Indeed,  few  of  their 
friends  could  boast  this  accomplishment. 

It  was  on  June  12,  1806,  that  Thomas  Lincoln  and 
Nancy  Hanks  were  married  in  Elizabethtown,  Kentucky. 
The  young  couple  began  their  housekeeping  in  a  one-room 
cabin,  fourteen  feet  square,  like  many  others  in  Elizabeth- 
town;  and  there  in  the  following  year  their  first  child, 
Sarah,  was  born. 

As  Thomas  did  not  have  enough  work  as  a  carpenter  to 
supply  the  growing  needs  of  his  family,  he  removed  to  the 
little  farm  situated  on  Nolin  Creek,  which  he  had  bought 


4  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

three  years  before.  Here,  on  February  12,  1809,  Abraham 
Lincoln  was  born.  Life  was  already  an  up-hill  struggle  for 
the  Lincolns,  and  they  soon  became  very  poor.  This  was 
largely  because  the  farm  alone  did  not  yield  a  living,  and 
the  father  did  not  get  sufficient  extra  employment  at  his 
trade.  He  would  turn  off  work  if  it  came  his  way,  but  he 
did  not  go  to  seek  it. 

After  a  losing  struggle  on  the  farm  at  Nolin  Creek 
Thomas  Lincoln,  when  little  Abe  was  four  years  old,  sold 
out  and  bought  another  farm  of  two  hundred  and  eighty- 
three  acres  on  Knob  Creek,  about  fifteen  miles  to  the 
northeast,  and  removed  his  family  to  that  place.  We 
may  imagine  that  the  journey  thither  through  the  leafy 
woods  must  have  been  a  delight  to  the  four-year-old  boy, 
who  was  not  old  enough  to  be  weighed  down  by  care  and 
disappointment.  The  song-birds,  the  flitting  squirrels, 
the  flowers,  the  sunshine,  the  wind,  the  trembling  leaves 
and  bowing  trees,  or  even  the  cloud  and  storm,  might  well 
give  joy  to  his  sensitive  little  soul. 

They  lived  on  the  new  farm  only  three  years,  little 
Abe  being  seven  years  old  when  they  moved  away;  but 
after  he  had  grown  to  manhood,  Lincoln  could  recall 
incidents  of  his  life  at  Knob  Creek.  Here  a  baby  sister 
was  born  and  died.  Here  the  little  fellow  began  manfully 
to  share  the  family  work,  fetching  and  carrying  for  his 
father,  picking  berries,  even  helping  to  plant  seed. 

But  the  family  fortunes  did  not  pick  up ;  and  as  a  dis- 


BOYHOOD  DAYS  5 

pute  arose  about  the  deed  of  his  farm,  Thomas  Lincoln 
once  more  decided  to  sell  out  and  seek  a  new  home. 

Most  of  the  good  land  in  Kentucky  was  being  rapidly 
settled,  and  a  good  farm  there  would  have  cost  more  than 
he  was  able  to  pay.  Moreover,  a  brother  had  prospered  in 
Indiana,  and  other  relatives  had  gone  there.  Then,  too, 
as  his  son  said  later,  he  wished  to  go  where  there  were 
fewer  slaveholders.  So  this  time  Thomas  Lincoln  decided 
to  leave  Kentucky  and  cross  into  Indiana. 

Of  the  first  seven  years  of  Abraham  Lincoln's  life  we 
know  almost  nothing.  His  only  playmate  was  his  sister, 
Sarah,  for  neighbors  were  not  close  enough  to  see  much  of 
each  other.  He  must  have  played  much  alone  in  the 
forest  and  about  the  streams,  making  friends  with  the 
world  of  out-of-doors.  He  was  seldom  known  to  speak  of 
those  early  years  even  to  his  best  friends,  but  when  some 
one  asked  him  later  in  his  life  if  he  remembered  anything 
about  the  War  of  1812,  he  told  the  following  story:  "I  had 
been  fishing  one  day  and  caught  a  little  fish,  which  I  was 
taking  home.  I  met  a  soldier  in  the  road,  and,  having 
always  been  told  at  home  that  we  must  be  good  to  the 
soldiers,  I  gave  him  my  fish."  This  shows  us  that  as  a 
child  he  was  generous,  and  that  he  had  been  taught  to  be 
patriotic.  Another  of  his  memories  was  of  his  mother 
taking  himself  and  Sarah  to  say  good-by  to  the  grave  of 
his  little  sister  before  going  far  away  to  their  new  home 
in  Indiana. 


6  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Thomas  Lincoln  sold  his  claim  to  the  farm  in  Ken 
tucky  for  twenty  dollars  and  four  hundred  gallons  of 
whiskey.  Whiskey  to  us  seems  a  strange  kind  of  cur 
rency;  but  it  was  far  less  bulky  than  the  corn  from  which 
it  was  made,  and  as  trading  was  mostly  by  barter,  or  ex 
change,  it  often  passed  from  one  owner  to  another  in  the 
process  of  buying  and  selling. 

With  the  proceeds  of  his  sale  and  his  kit  of  tools,  he 
boarded  a  rude  raft  of  his  own  making  and  drifted  down 
the  creek  to  the  Ohio  River,  landing  some  miles  below  on 
the  farther  shore.  Here  he  made  acquaintance  with  a 
settler  by  the  name  of  Posey,  and  leaving  his  whiskey  and 
kit  of  tools  with  him,  pushed  inland  through  the  dense 
forests  in  search  of  a  suitable  spot  for  his  new  home.  On 
the  first  day  he  selected  a  place  near  Little  Pigeon  Creek, 
eighteen  miles  north  of  the  river,  and  one  and  one-half 
miles  from  Gentryville.  Then  he  walked  back  to  Knob 
Creek  for  his  family.  Again  the  simple  preparations  to 
move  were  made,  and  the  life  in  Kentucky  came  to  an 
end. 

Two  borrowed  horses  carried  their  household  goods, 
which  consisted  of  a  little  bedding  and  clothing  and  also 
a  few  cooking  utensils.  The  children  were  tied  to  the  load 
upon  the  horses'  backs.  The  father  and  mother  walked, 
the  father  carrying  his  rifle  to  protect  the  family  and  pro 
vide  necessary  food.  He  carried  his  axe  also,  that  con 
stant  companion  of  the  pioneer,  not  only  in  the  woods  for 


BOYHOOD   DAYS  7 

chopping  a  way  through,  but  at  the  journey's  end  for 
making  the  home  and  its  rude  furniture. 

On  reaching  the  Ohio  River  the  horses  were  set  free 
and  headed  homeward.  A  boat  carried  the  Lincolns  across 
the  river,  and  on  the  other  side  a  wagon  was  hired  from 
Posey.  Then  Thomas  Lincoln  with  his  family  started  on 
their  journey  northward.  As  he  had  to  cut  a  road  through 
the  forest,  they  were  three  days  on  the  way. 

The  four  were  entirely  alone.  They  had  not  even  a 
domestic  animal — a  cat  or  a  dog — with  them.  The  jour 
ney  must  have  been  a  dreary  one,  for  it  was  the  last  of 
November  and  the  weather  was  more  or  less  wintry.  They 
had  no  shelter  at  night  except  the  leafless  trees,  nor  any 
protection  from  the  cold  except  the  clothing  they  wore 
and  the  brush  fires  around  which  they  slept  under  the  open 
sky.  Yet  the  two  children  probably  had  much  pleasure 
out  of  the  changing  experience. 

Having  arrived  safely  at  the  end  of  their  journey,  all 
set  to  work  with  a  will  to  provide  a  shelter  against  the 
winter.  Young  Abe,  though  only  seven,  was  healthy, 
rugged,  and  active,  and  all  day  long  he  worked  with  his 
axe,  clearing  away  the  bushes  and  thick  underbush,  while 
his  father  cut  down  saplings  and  made  poles  for  their 
"camp." 

This  "camp,"  in  which  they  must  live  until  they  could 
build  a  good  cabin,  was  a  mere  shed,  fourteen  feet  square, 
with  one  side  open.  The  poles  were  laid  one  upon  the 


8 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


other,  and  were  topped  by  a  thatched  roof  of  boughs  and 
leaves.    As  there  was  no  chimney  there  could  be  no  fire 


,i 


Lincoln  Helping  His  Father  Make  "Camp" 

inside,  and  it  was  necessary  to  keep  one  burning  all  the 
time  just  in  front  of  the  "camp." 

During  this  first  winter  in  the  wild  woods  of  Indiana 
the  little  boy  must  have  lived  a  very  busy  life.  Besides  the 
building  of  the  cabin,  which  was  to  take  the  place  of  the 


BOYHOOD   DAYS  9 

"camp,"  a  clearing  had  to  be  made  for  the  corn-planting 
of  the  coming  spring. 

A  whole  year  passed  before  the  Lincoln  family  moved 
into  the  newly  built  log  cabin;  giving  up  the  '"camp"  to 
some  friends,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sparrow,  who  had  followed 
them  from  Kentucky.  With  the  Sparrows  lived  Dennis 
Hanks,  a  young  cousin  of  Mrs.  Lincoln. 

The  new  cabin  had  no  windows  and  no  floor  except  the 
bare  earth.  There  was  an  opening  on  one  side  which  was 
used  as  a  doorway;  but  there  was  no  door,  nor  was  there 
so  much  as  a  deerskin  to  keep  out  the  rain  or  the  snow, 
or  to  give  protection  from  the  cold  wind. 

In  this  rough  abode  the  furniture  was  scanty  and  of 
the  rudest  sort.  The  chairs  were  only  three-legged  stools, 
made  by  smoothing  the  flat  side  of  a  split  log  and  putting 
sticks  into  holes  bored  underneath.  The  table  was  of  the 
same  simple  kind,  with  four  legs  instead  of  three.  The 
rude  bedsteads  in  the  corners  of  the  cabin  were  made  by 
sticking  two  poles  into  the  logs  at  right  angles  to  the  walls, 
the  outside  corner,  w^here  the  poles  met,  being  supported 
by  a  crotched  stick  driven  into  the  ground.  Then  boards 
were  placed  across  the  poles,  making  a  framework  upon 
which  shucks  and  leaves  were  heaped,  and  over  all  were 
laid  the  skins  of  wild  animals. 

Abe's  bed  was  a  pile  of  dried  leaves  in  a  corner  of  the 
loft,  and  he  reached  it  by  climbing  on  pegs  driven  into  the 
wall.  In  winter  the  cold  winds  whistled  about  his  head, 


10  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  snow  sifted  in  through  cracks,  and  even  the  drip  of  rain 
fell  on  his  face. 

The  food  was  simple,  but  there  usually  was  plenty  of  it. 
The  Lincolns  raised  enough  corn  to  supply  the  household, 


A  Pioneer's  Home 


the  meal  being  made  into  "corn  dodgers/7  roasted  in  the 
ashes,  which  was  their  every-day  bread.  Wheat  was  so 
hard  to  raise  and  so  scarce  that  flour  bread  was  reserved 
for  Sunday  mornings.  The  principal  vegetable  was  the 
common  white  potato,  and  sometimes  that  was  all  the 
Lincolns  had  to  eat.  We  get  a  flash  of  Abraham's  humor 
and  learn  something  of  his  father's  religious  habits  from 
Abraham's  remark  to  his  father,  who  had  just  asked  a 


BOYHOOD   DAYS  11 

blessing  on  a  dish  of  roasted  potatoes,  that  "they  were 
mighty  poor  blessings.7'  But,  as  a  rule,  there  was  an 
abundance  of  game,  such  as  deer,  bears,  wild  turkeys, 
ducks,  and  pheasants,  many  kinds  of  fish  from  the  streams 
close  by,  and  in  summer  wild  fruits  from  the  woods.  These 
were  so  plentiful  that  they  were  dried  for  winter  use. 

It  was  easy  to  get  game,  for  not  far  from  the  Lincoln 
cabin  was  a  glade  in  which  there  were  deer-licks.  Waiting 
here  one  or  two  hours  usually  resulted  in  getting  a  shot  at 
a  deer,  which  would  furnish  food  for  a  week,  and  also 
material  for  moccasins  or  shoes  and  breeches.  But  the 
cooking  was  rudely  done,  because  there  were  few  groceries 
and  few  cooking  utensils.  A  simple  but  most  useful 
article  in  every  pioneer  household  was  the  gritter.  It  was 
a  piece  of  flattened  tin  punched  full  of  holes  and  nailed  to 
a  board.  Many  articles  of  food  could  be  grated  on  it,  and 
at  times  the  housewife  secured  by  this  slow  method  enough 
corn-meal  for  bread. 

When  washing-day  came,  the  clothes  were  taken  down 
either  to  the  flowing  stream  or  to  the  watering-trough, 
which  at  that  time  was  the  closest  approach  to  our  modern 
set  tubs.  Indeed  the  backwoodsmen  had  to  devise  many 
contrivances  to  supply  their  lack  of  manufactured  things. 
Thorns,  for  instance,  were  used  for  pins,  bits  of  stone  for 
buttons,  while  for  a  looking-glass  a  woman  would  scour  a 
tin  pan.  As  there  was  almost  no  money  in  circulation, 
people  exchanged,  or  " bartered,"  for  things  they  wished, 


12 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


one  man  paying  maple-sugar  for  a  marriage  license,  and 
another  giving  wolf-scalps !  Candles  were  a  luxury  much 
of  the  time,  and  Abe,  as  we  shall  find  later,  spent  many 

long  winter  eve- 
nings  reading  by 
^ne  n'§ht  °f  blazing 
logs  in  the  rude 

firePlace- 

These  were  busy 

days  for  Abraham. 
As  a  small  boy  he 
did  the  number 
less  chores  which 
come  around  with 
surprising  fre 
quency  to  the  boy 
who  lives  on  a  farm. 
He  also  cut  brush, 
chopped  fire-wood,  picked  berries,  and  helped  plough  and 
plant.  Although  in  his  brief  biography,  written  in  the 
third  person,  he  said  that  he  did  little  hunting,  he  told 
the  following  story  about  his  shooting  a  wild  turkey: 

"A  few  days  before  the  completion  of  his  eighth  year,  in 
the  absence  of  his  father,  a  flock  of  wild  turkeys  approached 
the  new  log  cabin;  and  Abraham  with  a  rifle-gun,  stand 
ing  inside,  shot  through  a  crack  and  killed  one  of  them. 
He  has  never  since  pulled  the  trigger  on  any  larger  game." 


Method  of  Grinding  Corn 


BOYHOOD  DAYS  13 

While  the  boy  kept  busy  with  tasks  about  the  farm 
and  helping  his  father  in  the  carpenter-shop,  the  simple, 
active  life  was  making  his  body  strong  and  wiry,  and  his 
muscles  firm  and  hard. 

As  he  grew  he  became  a  tall,  slim,  awkward  boy,  with 
very  long  legs  and  arms.  His  dress,  like  that  of  all  pioneers, 
was  picturesque  and  somewhat  peculiar.  He  wore  trousers 
and  moccasins  made  of  deerskin,  and  a  shirt,  which  was 
often  of  homespun  linsey-woolsey,  but  sometimes  of  deer 
skin.  In  winter  his  cap  was  of  coonskin,  while  in  summer 
he  wore  a  rough,  unshaped  straw  hat  without  a  band. 
Probably  this  costume  was  very  comfortable  and  well 
suited  to  the  pioneer's  life;  but  we  are  told  that  Abe's 
deerskin  trousers,  after  getting  wet,  shrank  until  they  be 
came  several  inches  too  short  for  his  long,  lean  legs.  Then 
his  jesting  companions  called  him  " long-shanks." 

But  the  privations  of  these  " pinching  times,"  as  Lin 
coln  later  called  them,  were  as  nothing  compared  to  the 
grievous  loss  of  his  mother.  The  rough  life  of  the  forest 
and  the  exposure  of  the  open  cabin  had  weakened  her 
naturally  frail  constitution.  Besides,  there  was  much 
malaria,  and  in  1818  a  frightful  pestilence,  called  "milk 
sickness,"  swept  away  a  large  part  of  the  people  in  the 
little  community  near  Pigeon  Creek.  Among  those  who 
died  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Sparrow,  who  had  occupied  the 
"camp,"  and  Abraham's  mother. 

She  was  the  nine-year-old  lad's  dearest  friend.     They 


14  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

were  knit  together  by  common  traits  that  held  them  in 
closest  sympathy  and  understanding.  They  had  the  same 
alertness  of  mind,  the  same  sensitive  feeling,  and  the  same 
strain  of  sadness  tingeing  their  natures.  Before  her  death, 
in  her  final  parting,  she  said  to  the  boy  sobbing  at  her 
bedside  in  his  first  great  grief:  " Abraham,  I  am  going  away 
from  you,  and  you  will  never  see  me  again.  I  know  that 
you  will  always  be  good  and  kind  to  your  sister  and  fa 
ther.  Try  to  live  as  I  have  taught  you,  and  to  love  your 
Heavenly  Father/7 

There  was  a  long  interval  after  her  death  and  burial 
before  a  preacher  came  near  enough  this  remote  settle 
ment  for  a  funeral  service  to  be  held.  But  before  a  year 
had  passed,  it  is  said,  the  young  boy  sent  a  message  to  a 
Baptist  preacher  who  had  more  than  once  been  a  guest 
of  the  Lincolns  in  their  Kentucky  home,  and  persuaded 
that  good  man  to  come  more  than  a  hundred  miles  to  hold 
a  service  at  his  mother's  grave.  The  oft-quoted  remark, 
"All  that  I  am  or  ever  hope  to  be,  I  owe  to  my  angel 
mother,"  reveals  the  abiding  love  in  which  he  held  her 
memory. 

For  a  year  the  family  was  desolate.  Then  Thomas 
Lincoln  went  to  Kentucky  to  seek  another  wife  and  mother 
for  the  bereaved  home.  There  he  married  for  his  second 
wife,  a  widow,  Sarah  Bush  Johnston,  whom  the  family  had 
known  before  leaving  Kentucky,  and  who  became  a  de 
voted  friend  to  the  motherless  boy. 


BOYHOOD  DAYS  15 

When  Thomas  Lincoln  and  his  new  bride  came  back 
to  the  Indiana  home  they  brought  a  wagon  loaded  with 
furniture,  for  Mrs.  Lincoln  was  well-to-do.  There  was  a  fine 
bureau,  a  clothes-press,  and  bedding  and  cooking  utensils 
such  as  Abraham  and  his  sister  Sarah  had  never  seen.  Mrs. 
Lincoln  brought  with  her  three  children  of  her  own,  two 
girls  and  a  boy.  There  were  also  now  in  the  household, 
with  the  Lincolns,  Dennis  Hanks,  who  had  come  to  live 
with  them  after  the  Sparrows  died,  and  a  cousin  from  Ken 
tucky,  John  Hanks.  This  made  in  all  a  family  of  nine  in 
the  little  cabin — a  lively  household  indeed  for  the  new 
mother. 

Sarah  Bush  Lincoln  was  energetic,  thrifty,  gentle,  and 
intelligent.  She  had  been  accustomed  to  better  things 
than  she  found  in  her  new  home,  and  she  insisted  that  the 
log  cabin  should  be  supplied  with  a  door,  floor,  and  win 
dow.  She  also  began  to  make  the  Lincoln  children  "look 
a  little  more  human."  In  fact,  she  was  a  model  step 
mother. 

It  was  fortunate  for  Abraham  that  she  was  bent  upon 
having  the  children  go  to  school.  He  was  now  ten  years 
old,  and  he  could  not  write.  Although  he  had  gone  to 
school  for  a  short  time  to  two  different  teachers  before 
leaving  Kentucky,  he  knew  little  more  than  the  letters  of 
the  alphabet. 

There  were  no  schoolhouses  in  southern  Indiana  in  those 
days.  Such  buildings  as  they  had  were  rough  log  cabins 


16  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

which  had  been  used  for  homes,  with  earth  floors  and 
greased  paper  for  windows.  Desks  were  unknown,  little 
benches  made  of  split  logs  after  the  manner  of  the  stools 
and  tables  in  the  Lincoln  home  being  used  instead.  The 
teachers  \vere  men  of  limited  education,  who  could  teach 
only  a  little  spelling,  reading,  writing,  and  ciphering. 

During  his  last  school-days,  Abraham  Lincoln  had  to 
walk  daily  a  distance  of  four  and  one-half  miles  each  way 
from  his  home,  following  no  doubt  at  times  the  deer-path 
through  the  forest.  His  midday  lunch  was  a  "  corn  dodger/ ' 
which  he  carried  in  his  pocket.  He  went  to  school  to  three 
different  teachers  in  Indiana;  but  his  schooling,  all  told, 
lasted  less  than  a  year. 

In  spite  of  his  meagre  opportunities,  however,  the  boy 
by  his  self-reliance,  strong  purpose,  and  good  reading  habits 
was  acquiring  the  best  sort  of  training  for  his  future  life. 
At  his  home  there  were  no  books  except  the  Bible,  and  of 
course  there  were  few  to  be  had  in  that  wild  country  from 
other  homes.  But  whenever  he  heard  of  a  book  anywhere, 
far  or  near,  he  would  go  on  foot  to  borrow  it.  Then  he 
would  pore  over  its  contents  until  he  had  made  every 
thing  between  its  covers  a  part  of  himself. 

To  a  friend  he  once  said:  "I  have  read  all  the  books 
I  have  ever  heard  of  in  the  country  for  a  circuit  of  fifty 
miles."  In  this  way  he  came  to  know  thoroughly  "^Esop's 
Fables/7  "Robinson  Crusoe/7  "Pilgrim's  Progress/'  "The 
History  of  the  United  States/7  and  Weems's  "Life  of 


BOYHOOD   DAYS  17 

Washington";  and  these  were  all  books  of  the  right 
kind. 

His  stepmother  said  of  him:  "He  read  everything  he 
could  lay  his  hands  on ;  and  when  he  came  across  a  passage 
that  struck  him,  he  would  write  it  down  on  boards,  if  he 
had  no  paper,  and  keep  it  before  him  until  he  could  get 
paper.  Then  he  would  copy  it,  look  at  it,  commit  it  to 
memory,  and  repeat  it." 

Dennis  Hanks  said:  "When  Abe  and  I  returned  to  the 
house  from  work,  he  would  go  to  the  cupboard,  snatch  a 
piece  of  corn  bread,  take  down  a  book,  cock  his  legs  up  as 
high  as  his  head,  and  read." 

When  night  came  he  would  find  a  seat  in  the  corner  by 
the  fireside,  or  stretch  out  at  length  on  the  floor,  and  write 
or  work  out  sums  in  arithmetic  on  a  wooden  shovel,  using 
a  charred  stick  for  a  pencil.  When  he  had  covered  the 
shovel,  he  would  shave  off  the  surface  and  begin  over 
again.  He  liked  to  read  or  study  while  lying  down,  and 
this  habit  clung  to  him  throughout  his  life.  It  was  his 
habit  also  to  copy,  either  in  his  copy-book  or  in  a  note 
book  which  he  kept  for  the  purpose,  the  selections  he  liked. 
He  used  a  turkey-buzzard's  quill  for  a  pen,  and  the  juice 
of  a  brier-root  for  a  writing-fluid. 

The  books  that  he  specially  liked  he  read  over  and 
over  again  until  he  knew  them  almost  by  heart.  One  that 
he  had  borrowed  was  Weems's  "Life  of  Washington." 
The  first  night  he  had  it  he  took  it  to  bed  with  him  in  the 


18 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


loft,  reading  until  his  candle  gave  out.  Before  going  to 
sleep,  he  tucked  the  book  in  a  crevice  between  the  logs 
until  daylight  should  come,  and  he  could  go  on  with  his 


He  Would  Work  out  Sums  in  Arithmetic  on  a  Wooden  Shovel 

reading.  Poor  Abraham !  During  the  night  a  hard  rain 
beat  in  upon  the  book,  soaking  it  through.  With  heavy 
heart  he  took  it  back  to  its  owner,  who  required  him  to 
work  three  days  to  pay  for  it.  Although  Lincoln  paid 
the  price  he  resented  the  injustice,  and  later  took  his  satis 
faction  by  writing  doggerel  verse  in  which  he  ridiculed  the 
farmer.  Yet  the  book  was  worth  to  him  all  it  cost,  for  it 
had  a  marked  influence  over  his  future. 


BOYHOOD   DAYS  19 

Abraham  Lincoln's  hunger  for  books  led  him  to  devour 
anything  that  was  printed,  even  the  dictionary,  which  he 
read  page  by  page.  With  absorbing  interest,  he  studied 
it,  evening  after  evening,  until  the  twilight  made  it  im 
possible  for  him  to  see.  He  never  seemed  to  get  enough. 
Even  the  Statutes  of  Indiana  were  grist  for  his  mill,  as  the 
homely  old  saying  has  it.  The  book  containing  these  also 
had  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  and  the  Ordinance  of  1787.  Here  was 
the  beginning  of  his  study  of  law,  which  was  an  important 
stepping-stone  in  his  career. 

Such  a  boy  did  not  need  to  go  to  school,  for,  having 
learned  to  read  and  to  think  about  what  he  read,  he  was 
his  own  best  teacher.  He  learned  by  reading  how  other 
men  had  won  success  in  life's  struggle;  and  by  copying  the 
things  he  wished  to  remember  he  made  them  his  own. 
While  there  was  not  much  need  for  arithmetic  in  the  back 
woods,  he  knew  that  in  the  larger  world  outside  it  was  use 
ful.  In  a  word,  he  soon  came  to  realize  that  the  man  who 
knows  has  a  great  advantage  over  the  man  who  does  not 
know;  and  being  ambitious,  he  strove  to  give  himself  the 
power  of  knowledge — -that  knowledge  which  helps  a  man 
make  his  way  in  the  world. 

As  we  have  noted,  his  stepmother  was  very  desirous 
that  he  should  go  to  school  and  also  have  an  opportunity 
to  read  books.  His  father,  on  the  other  hand,  having  never 
been  to  school  himself,  thought  that  for  a  boy  like  Abra- 


20  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

ham  schooling  was  a  waste  of  time  and  that  books  were 
useless.  To  him  it  was  more  important  that  Abe  should 
be  earning  money  to  help  the  family  to  live.  It  was  for 
this  reason  that  Abraham  was  allowed  to  go  to  school  but 
very  few  weeks  at  a  time,  and  that  at  seventeen  he  was 
taken  out  of  school  altogether. 

In  fact,  before  he  was  seventeen  his  father  had  begun 
to  hire  him  out  to  the  neighbors  to  do  farm-work,  or  what 
ever  the  neighbor  wished  to  have  him  do.  For  this  the 
father  received  twenty-five  cents  a  day.  At  times  Abraham 
and  Sarah  were  both  hired  out  to  the  more  thrifty  farmers 
in  the  community,  Abraham  as  a  field-hand  and  Sarah  as 
an  inside  helper.  While  so  employed,  Abraham,  when  in 
the  house,  was  always  ready  to  lend  a  helping  hand  to  the 
busy  housewife,  by  making  the  fire,  carrying  water,  or  even 
tending  the  baby.  It  was  by  such  simple  and  homely 
services  that  he  won  friends  wherever  he  was,  and  was  al 
ways  in  demand. 

He  was  a  good  worker,  but  he  could  not  always  put  his 
heart  into  his  work.  His  interest  was  in  other  things. 
A  neighbor  said  of  him:  "He  worked  for  me,  but  he  was 
always  reading  and  thinking.  He  said  to  me  one  day 
that  his  father  taught  him  to  work,  but  he  didn't  teach 
him  to  love  it."  In  fact,  his  thoughts  were  centred  in 
other  things  than  his  daily  labor.  When  his  employer's 
day  ended,  Abraham's  day  began,  because  it  was  then 
that  he  took  up  his  books.  He  read  and  wrote  and  ci- 


BOYHOOD   DAYS  21 

phered  all  the  time  he  had  for  himself.  As  a  worker,  how 
ever,  he  gave  satisfaction,  because  he  was  so  strong  and  so 
intelligent ;  and  he  was  a  good  comrade,  because  he  had  so 
much  good  humor  and  told  so  many  funny  stories. 


He  Liked  to  Make  Speeches,  and  Often  Amused  and  Entertained  His  Friends 

Besides  being  a  good  story-teller,  he  liked  to  make 
speeches;  and  by  his  efforts  in  this  direction,  often  amused 
and  entertained  his  friends.  When  the  time  for  a  rest 
ing  spell  from  work  came,  Lincoln  would  stand  upon  a 
stump,  or  climb  a  fence,  and  make  a  speech,  sometimes 
repeating  in  part,  with  some  variations,  a  sermon  he  had 
heard  from  the  lips  of  a  travelling  preacher.  Sometimes 


22  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

he  would  use  his  powers  of  speechmaking  in  the  midst  of 
working-hours;  and  whenever  he  spoke  he  never  failed 
to  create  a  lively  interest  in  his  hearers,  who  would  drop 
scythe  or  axe  and  gather  around  the  young  orator  with 
genuine  admiration.  By  delaying  the  work  in  this  way, 
Abraham  often  caused  his  employers  to  think  that  his 
oratory  was  robbing  them  of  their  dues.  But  he  was  so 
good-natured  about  it  all,  and  so  popular  among  his  fellow 
workers,  that  no  farmer  could  easily  complain. 

Although  there  was  much  hard  work  in  those  days,  we 
must  not  think  of  his  early  life  as  altogether  one  of  drudgery 
and  loneliness;  for  even  in  the  backwoods,  there  were 
many  simple  good  times  to  enjoy.  In  his  own  home,  we 
may  be  sure,  there  was  much  fun  and  frolic.  Thomas 
Lincoln  himself,  as  we  have  said,  was  a  good  story-teller, 
and  so  was  Dennis  Hanks.  There  must  have  been  cheery 
talk,  therefore,  around  the  fireside.  Abraham  also  went 
fishing  with  the  boys  in  the  creek  in  the  evening.  He  en 
joyed  swimming,  and  during  the  rests  at  noon  he  and  the 
other  boys  wrestled  and  jumped  and  ran  races. 

After  new  families  had  come  to  the  region  there  were 
many  social  gatherings  in  that  backwoods  community, 
and  Abraham  Lincoln  liked  to  attend  them  all.  They  in 
cluded  horse-racing,  fox-hunting,  husking-bees,  house-rais 
ings,  log-rollings,  spelling-bees,  and  political  gatherings, 
where  there  were  speechmakings. 

On  all  these  occasions  Lincoln  was  a  favorite  because 


BOYHOOD   DAYS  23 

of  his  wit  and  humor,  his  rare  gift  of  telling  stories,  and  his 
practical  jokes.  He  was  such  a  good  speller  that  in  course 
of  time  he  could  spell  down  anybody  at  the  spelling-bees. 
In  fact,  it  is  said  that  after  a  while  it  was  decided  not  to 
let  him  spell  at  all,  for  there  was  nobody  that  could  match 
him. 

In  his  own  home  he  seemed  to  be  the  leader,  largely 
because  of  his  cleverness  and  kindness.  But  perhaps  one 
of  the  strongest  reasons  why  he  won  and  kept  an  undis 
puted  leadership  over  his  friends  and  associates  was  his 
giant  stature  and  strength;  for  in  a  community  like  that, 
physical  prowess  was  in  itself  leadership.  He  had  attained 
his  full  growth  and  height  when  he  was  seventeen  years  of 
age,  being  at  that  time  six  feet  four  inches  tall.  Then,  too, 
people  were  proud  to  be  his  companions,  because  of  his 
superior  knowledge  and  power  as  a  public  speaker.  Be 
sides,  he  was  so  just  that  he  could  be  depended  upon  to 
settle  fairly  disagreements  among  his  friends. 

We  must  not  think  of  him  as  a  perfect  boy.  Of  course, 
like  all  of  us,  he  had  his  faults.  He  sometimes  disagreed 
with  his  comrades,  and  sometimes  the  dispute  was  settled 
in  a  rough-and-tumble  way  that  resulted  usually  in  favor 
of  Abraham,  for  he  was  a  strong  wrestler.  After  he  had 
grown  up  he  rarely  met  any  one  in  those  backwoods  days 
that  he  could  not  easily  overmatch.  It  was  said  that  he 
once  lifted  and  carried  a  chicken-house  weighing  six  hun 
dred  pounds,  and  also  that  he  could  lift  a  barrel  of  whiskey 


24 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


and  drink  out  of  the  bung-hole,  although  the  narrator  de 
clared  that  Lincoln  would  not  swallow  the  whiskey.  Even 
though  these  stories  may  be  exaggerated;  they  at  least 
show  the  reputation  he  had  for  strength. 


A  Grocery-Store  of  the  Primitive  Days 

Gentry ville,  the  village  near  which  Abraham  lived, 
stood  apart  from  the  great  world  of  thought  and  action. 
No  lecturer  ever  made  this  little  place  a  visit,  and  not 
even  a  circus  came  within  reach  of  its  inhabitants.  It  lived 
its  own  life,  and  the  centre  of  that  life  was  the  grocery- 
store.  Here  the  idlers  loitered  during  the  day,  and  the 
busy  men  joined  them  at  night.  Could  you  have  entered 
Jones's  grocery-store  in  the  evening,  you  would  have  seen 


BOYHOOD   DAYS  25 

men  reclining  on  the  counter  or  sitting  on  kegs  and  barrels, 
listening  perhaps  to  a  funny  story  or  perhaps  to  a  speaker, 
at  times  Abraham  Lincoln,  who  was  taking  part  in  the 
debate.  With  as  much  enthusiasm  as  if  the  fate  of  a 
nation  depended  upon  the  outcome,  they  discussed  such 
questions  as  whether  the  Indian  or  the  negro  had  received 
the  worse  treatment;  whether  fire  or  water  is  the  more 
useful;  whether  the  merits  of  the  bee  or  of  the  ant  are 
greater.  We  may  smile  at  the  simplicity  of  it  all,  but  we 
must  remember  that  it  was  at  the  grocery-stores  in  these 
primitive  days  in  the  backwoods  that  ideas  were  gained 
and  public  opinion  formed. 

The  people  were  superstitious.  They  believed  in  dreams, 
signs,  and  omens.  They  would  not  begin  a  journey  on 
Friday.  If  a  dog  crossed  a  hunter's  path  when  he  started 
out  in  the  morning,  the  hunter  would  have  an  unsuccessful 
day  unless  he  at  once  hooked  together  his  two  little  fingers 
and  pulled  until  the  dog  was  out  of  sight.  If  a  bird  alighted 
in  a  window  or  a  dog  was  heard  baying  at  certain  hours  of 
the  day,  it  was  regarded  as  a  sure  sign  that  death  or  some 
other  form  of  calamity  would  visit  the  household.  Potatoes 
and  other  vegetables  yielding  their  fruit  under  ground  must 
be  planted  in  the  period  when  the  moon  was  not  full ;  but 
those  bearing  their  fruit  above  ground  must  be  planted  in 
the  full  of  the  moon. 

As  there  were  no  churches  in  those  early  days,  there 
was  little  public  worship.  From  time  to  time,  but  at  long 


26  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

intervals,  a  travelling  preacher  would  pass  through  a  region. 
Then  nearly  all  the  people  would  go  in  large  groups  to  the 
nearest  meeting  which  he  held.  If  a  pioneer  had  a  wagon, 
his  whole  family  were  carried  in  it,  and  this  was  thought  of 
as  real  luxury.  But  when  families  had  no  wagons,  the 
mothers  rode  on  horseback,  carrying  the  little  children  in 
their  arms.  The  men  walked,  taking  along  their  muskets 
to  be  ready  to  shoot  any  game  they  might  be  able  to  start 
up  on  the  way. 

On  arriving  at  the  place  of  meeting  they  all  put  into  a 
common  store  the  provisions  they  had  brought,  and  in 
cheerful  companionship  ate  together  in  true  picnic  fashion. 
If  the  weather  was  fair  and  warm  the  meeting  was  held  in 
the  shade  of  the  trees;  but  if  it  was  rainy  or  snowy  the 
people  sought  the  shelter  of  some  vacant  cabin. 

When  all  was  ready  for  the  worship  to  begin,  the 
preacher  took  off  his  coat  as  a  suitable  preparation  for  the 
energetic  speaking  which,  according  to  the  practice  of  those 
backwoods  days,  was  fitting  on  such  an  occasion. 

In  all  this  primitive  life  of  the  home,  and  of  the  com 
munity,  Abraham  Lincoln  took  a  faithful  part.  But  his 
ideals  were  higher  than  those  of  the  people  with  whom  his 
lot  was  cast,  and  he  longed  to  get  out  of  that  backwoods 
country  into  the  great  world  beyond.  The  highway  to 
it  led  through  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  Rivers  down  to 
New  Orleans,  but  this  highway  was  as  yet  closed  to  him. 

It  opened  up  ever  so  little  when,  at  seventeen,  he  found 


BOYHOOD   DAYS  27 

employment  with  James  Taylor,  a  man  living  at  the  mouth 
of  Anderson  Creek  where  it  joins  the  Ohio  River.  Abra 
ham's  principal  business  was  the  management  of  Mr.  Tay 
lor's  ferry-boat,  which  plied  across  the  creek  and  the 
Ohio  River,  and  his  wages  were  six  dollars  a  month  and 
board. 

It  was  the  custom  of  farmers  living  in  Ohio,  Indiana, 
and  Illinois  to  collect  the  produce  of  their  communities  on 
flatboats,  and  float  it  down  the  river  to  New  Orleans. 
Abraham's  experience  on  the  river,  where  such  boats  were 
continually  passing,  made  him  wish  to  try  a  venture  of 
his  own. 

An  opportunity  came  when  he  was  nineteen  years  old, 
while  he  was  working  for  Mr.  Gentry,  a  leading  man  of 
that  vicinity.  A  trading  expedition  was  planned  by  his 
employer  to  go  with  a  load  of  produce  to  New  Orleans. 
Lincoln  was  to  go  along  with  Mr.  Gentry's  son  and  aid 
him  in  handling  the  boat  and  selling  the  cargo,  and  for  his 
service  he  was  to  receive  eight  dollars  a  month  and  board. 

They  were  gone  three  months  on  this  trip,  and  did  not 
return  until  some  time  in  June,  1828. 

During  these  months  on  the  river  Abraham  must  have 
learned  much  of  the  ways  of  the  world,  and  have  come 
more  closely  in  touch  with  its  life.  The  pioneers  with  their 
produce-laden  rafts — the  house-boats  with  mothers  rock 
ing  and  children  playing  on  deck,  perhaps  the  family  wash 
ing  flapping  in  the  wind — the  steamers  with  their  city- 


28  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

bred  passengers  and  the  ferrymen  plying  back  and  forth — 
all  these,  to  say  nothing  of  the  restless  life  of  the  brilliant 
city  of  New  Orleans ,  were  stirring  scenes  which  must  have 
quickened  the  thought  and  pulse  of  the  ambitious  young 
backwoodsman. 

But  after  this  glimpse  of  the  world  Lincoln  was  again 
shut  in,  and  once  more  he  took  up  the  petty  makeshifts  of 
life  in  the  backwoods. 


CHAPTER  II 
LINCOLN   AS   A  YOUNG   MAN 

AFTER  thirteen  years  of  baffling  fortune  in  Indiana, 
Abraham's  father,  Thomas  Lincoln,  was  no  further  ahead 
than  when  he  went  there.  He  could  not  make  his  farm 
pay.  Besides,  the  place  was  unhealthful  on  account  of 
"milk  sickness/'  of  which,  as  you  will  remember,  Abra 
ham's  mother  died.  John  Hanks  had  gone  west  into  Il 
linois  and  sent  back  pleasing  reports  of  the  country,  and 
now  the  young  people  in  the  Lincoln  family  wished  to 
follow,  because  they  felt  that  there  was  nothing  to  look 
forward  to  in  Indiana,  where  they  were,  but  hard  work  and 
poor  living. 

So,  about  the  middle  of  February,  1830,  Thomas  Lin 
coln,  with  his  family  and  the  families  of  Dennis  Hanks 
and  Levi  Hall,  who  had  married  his  stepdaughters,  started 
west  to  try  again  at  making  a  home.  Sarah,  Abraham's 
sister,  had  died  a  few  years  before.  They  sold  their  land, 
cattle,  and  grain,  and  much  of  their  furniture,  so  that  a 
wagon  drawn  by  four  oxen  carried  all  the  household  goods. 
There  were  thirteen  in  the  party.  Abraham  drove  the 
oxen.  Mrs.  Lincoln  rode  on  the  load,  and  her  little  grand 
children  were  stowed  away  among  the  goods.  The  others 
walked  along  beside  the  wagon  as  it  slowly  rumbled 

29 


30  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

through  the  country.  The  wagon- wheels,  without  spokes, 
were  simply  rounded  blocks  of  wood  cut  from  an  oak-tree, 
with  holes  in  the  centre  for  the  axle. 

It  was  a  difficult  journey.  The  roads  were  not  like 
those  of  to-day,  but  only  rough  trails  through  the  forest. 
Freezing  during  the  night  and  thawing  during  the  day, 
they  were  hard  to  travel  over,  and  even  the  prairies  were 
covered  with  mud.  The  numerous  creeks  and  rivers  had 
to  be  forded  on  foot  by  the  men,  for  of  course  there  were 
no  bridges;  and  when  the  water  was  cold  enough  to  be 
covered  with  thin  ice  this  must  have  been  very  unpleasant. 
For  two  weeks  they  travelled  in  this  way,  with  very  little 
to  protect  them  from  the  cold,  either  by  day  3r  night,  no 
matter  how  stormy  the  weather. 

Yet  it  would  be  hard  to  believe  that  Abraham's  stout 
heart  did  not  make  light  of  the  difficulties  on  the  journey, 
or  that  his  active  mind  did  not  find  much  to  interest  him. 
Little  has  come  down  to  us  about  it,  and  yet  we  know 
from  his  own  telling  that  they  passed  through  Vincennes, 
where  he  saw  a  printing-press  for  the  first  time.  That 
would  naturally  interest  the  book-loving  young  man. 
He  mentioned  also  seeing  a  juggler  performing  sleight-of- 
hand  tricks  in  a  country  village.  The  thrifty  side  of  his 
nature  is  revealed  by  the  fact  that  before  starting  out  from 
Gentryville,  he  had  invested  all  his  savings,  about  thirty 
dollars,  in  notions  and  a  few  odd  things,  like  knives  and 
forks,  to  sell  on  the  way.  He  wrote  back  after  reaching 


LINCOLN  AS  A  YOUNG   MAN 


31 


Decatur    that    he    had    sold    them    all   and   doubled   his 
money. 

About  the  first  of  March  their  journey  came  to  an  end, 
some  ten  miles  west  of  Decatur;  Illinois.     There;  on  the 


Lincoln's  Family  Moving  into  Illinois 

banks  of  the  Sangamon  River,  John  Hanks  had  cut  logs 
ready  for  the  new  cabin.  It  was  a  very  simple  affair,  for 
there  was  no  time  to  do  what  was  not  necessary. 

Although  Abraham  was  now  twenty-one  years  of  age, 
he  remained  to  help  his  father  get  started  in  his  new  home. 


32  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

He  not  only  joined  in  building  the  cabin,  but  lent  a  hand 
in  clearing  the  new  farm  of  fifteen  acres,  and  in  splitting 
rails  from  the  trunks  of  the  tall  walnuts  of  the  forest  to 
fence  it  in.  "These  are,  or  are  supposed  to  be,"  he  said 
in  his  short  autobiography  in  1860,  "the  rails  about  which 
so  much  is  being  said  just  now,  although  these  are  far  from 
being  the  first  or  only  rails  ever  made  by  Abraham."  He 
then  stayed  to  help  his  father  plant  and  harvest  the  first 
crop  of  corn. 

Life  in  Illinois  was  much  like  that  in  southern  Indiana. 
There  was  the  usual  log  cabin,  consisting  of  a  single  room 
with  the  planted  clearing  around  it.  When  a  new  settler 
came  into  a  community,  those  who  had  come  first  were 
ready  to  help  him  build  his  cabin,  but  after  that  he  had  to 
look  out  for  his  own  simple  wants.  Every  family  had  to 
be  self-supporting;  that  is,  it  provided  its  own  food  with  hoe 
and  rifle,  and  made  its  own  clothing,  even  hats  and  shoes. 

For  chopping  down  trees  and  for  fashioning  the  simple 
furniture  they  used,  the  axe  was  still  the  most  important 
tool.  Abraham  Lincoln  said  once  that  from  the  time  he 
took  it  up  to  help  his  father  clear  away  the  brush,  he  never 
let  it  go  "till  within  his  twenty-third  year."  He  was  a 
famous  chopper.  Dennis  Hanks  said  that  if  you  heard 
him  without  seeing  him,  you  would  think  there  were  three 
men  chopping,  the  trees  fell  so  fast. 

There  was  a  coarse  and  rude  supply  of  food,  as  in 
Indiana.  Game  of  many  kinds  abounded  in  the  forests. 


LINCOLN  AS  A  YOUNG  MAN 


33 


After  a  while,  when  swine  became  numerous,  bacon  and 
hoe-cake  were  staple  articles  of  diet.     Tea  was  made  out 


He  Worked  More  or  Less  at  Odd  Jobs  in  the  Community,  Mostly  Splitting 
Rails  or  Working  on  the  Farm 

of  sassafras  roots  dug  up  in  the  woods.  Buckskin  clothing 
was  becoming  less  common  than  when  Abraham  Lincoln 
was  a  boy,  although  it  was  even  yet  sometimes  used  to 


34  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

make  moccasins  and  hunting-shirts.  As  the  pioneers  had 
begun  to  grow  flax  and  hemp  and  to  get  wool  from  their 
sheep,  home-made  garments  became  more  usual,  for  the 
women  of  the  household  could  spin,  weave,  and  fashion 
garments,  as  in  the  older  communities. 

Having  helped  his  father  to  settle  in  the  new  home, 
Abraham  began  to  take  thought  for  himself.  One  of  his 
first  transactions  was  to  bargain  for  some  new  clothes.  He 
agreed  with  Mrs.  Nancy  Miller  to  split  four  hundred  rails 
for  every  yard  of  brown  jeans  needed  to  make  him  a  pair 
of  trousers.  As  he  was  tall — six  feet  four  inches — three 
and  one-half  yards  were  required,  and  he  had  to  split  four 
teen  hundred  fence-rails — a  large  amount  of  work  to  give 
for  a  pair  of  trousers.  But  brown  jeans  were  hard  to  get, 
and  Abraham  paid  the  price  cheerfully.  Then  he  started 
out  for  himself. 

During  the  first  year  he  worked  more  or  less  at  odd 
jobs  in  the  community,  mostly  splitting  rails  or  working  on 
the  farm.  He  still  spent  occasional  nights  at  his  father's 
house,  and  doubtless  made  him  now  and  then  gifts  of  money. 

Two  things  commended  him  as  a  worker.  The  first 
was  that  he  was  strong;  the  second,  that  he  was  a  likable 
young  fellow.  His  good  humor,  his  funny  stories,  his  wit, 
and  his  skill  as  a  debater  all  helped  to  make  him  popular 
in  the  new  community.  He  seems  not  to  have  been  al 
ways  a  diligent  worker.  But  when  he  did  work  he  did  it 
so  effectively  that  he  was  always  wanted. 


LINCOLN  AS  A  YOUNG  MAN  35 

Everything  went  well  during  this  first  year  in  Illinois 
until  about  Christmas-time.  Then  a  great  snow-storm, 
lasting  nearly  two  days,  covered  the  ground  three  or  four 
feet  deep  with  snow.  Hogs,  cattle,  and  even  horses 
perished  from  the  intense  cold  or  from  hunger.  The 
winter- wheat  crops  were  entirely  ruined.  Many  people 
died,  some  from  exposure  and  some  from  hunger,  for  only 
in  places  would  the  crust  on  the  snow  bear  a  team,  and 
none  but  the  strongest  men  were  able  to  go  on  foot  for 
food. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  winter  Lincoln  met  Mr.  Offutt, 
a  business  man  recently  come  to  Decatur,  who  had  some 
produce  he  wanted  to  send  down  to  New  Orleans.  He 
needed  two  or  three  hands,  and  he  engaged  Abraham  Lin 
coln,  John  Hanks,  and  John  Johnston,  Lincoln's  step 
brother.  Each  man  was  to  receive  fifty  cents  a  day,  and  if 
the  venture  succeeded,  twenty  dollars  cash  in  addition.  To 
young  men  so  little  used  to  money  this  seemed  large  pay. 

First,  the  flatboat  had  to  be  built,  a  task  which  took 
four  or  five  weeks.  So  it  was  about  the  middle  of  April 
before  they  started  down  the  Sangamon  River.  The  jour 
ney  was  an  eventful  one.  Before  they  were  fairly  launched 
Lincoln  had  to  rescue  two  of  the  company  from  the  rapids 
in  the  river.  A  few  miles  farther  down  they  had  another 
serious  mishap.  Just  in  front  of  the  little  village  of 
New  Salem,  on  the  Sangamon  River,  the  flatboat  stranded 
upon  a  mill-dam.  Nearly  the  whole  village  came  out  and 


36 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


spent  a  good  part  of  the  day  looking  on,  offering  advice, 
and  making  jokes  at  the  expense  of  the  wayfarers. 


Just  in  Front  of  the  Little  Village  of  New  Salem  the  Flatboat  Stranded 

Perhaps  the  figure  most  interesting  to  them  was  a  tall, 
raw-boned  young  man,  with  a  battered  hat,  a  threadbare 
and  patched  coat,  and  a  pair  of  homespun  trousers,  torn, 
patched,  and  with  almost  half  of  one  of  the  legs  gone. 


LINCOLN  AS  A  YOUNG  MAN  37 

This  was  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  was  attentively  preparing 
a  contrivance  by  which  to  unload  the  cargo  and  get  the 
boat  off  the  dam,  for,  with  its  bow  in  the  air  and  its  stern 
filling  with  water,  both  cargo  and  boat  were  in  danger. 
Lincoln  succeeded  in  removing  the  cargo  to  another  boat, 
and  then  bored  a  hole  in  the  part  of  the  boat  over  the  dam 
and  let  out  the  water.  Soon  things  were  righted,  and  they 
proceeded  on  their  journey. 

They  had  no  further  difficulty  in  floating  down  the 
Sangamon,  the  Illinois,  and  the  Mississippi,  and  they 
reached  New  Orleans  in  May,  1831,  where  they  remained 
for  a  month.  The  city  had  become  even  more  prosperous 
since  Lincoln's  first  visit,  made  with  young  Gentry  three 
years  before.  Commerce  had  greatly  increased,  and  the 
population  was  larger  and  more  varied,  there  being  people 
of  many  nations.  Both  the  city  and  the  life  were  pictur 
esque,  with  much  to  engage  the  attention  of  a  stranger. 
Here  were  seen  the  idle  luxury  of  the  rich,  the  wild,  wicked 
life  of  the  poorer  quarter,  the  pirates  in  the  Gulf  and  river, 
and  the  crowds  of  river  boatmen,  with  boats  so  closely  tied 
that  one  could  walk  a  mile  over  them  without  going  ashore. 
Lincoln's  quick,  young  mind,  stimulated  by  all  that  he  saw, 
must  have  carried  away  sharp  impressions  of  many  phases 
of  life,  to  be  thought  over  later  when  he  was  back  in 
Illinois,  especially  that  part  of  it  which  brought  him  in 
contact  with  the  evils  of  slavery. 

The  city  at  this  time  was  full  of  slaves,  and  their  num- 


38  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

her  was  constantly  increasing.  One  of  the  saddest  features 
of  slavery  was  the  slave-market.  Here  Lincoln  saw,  for 
the  first  time,  men  and  women  sold  like  animals.  He  saw 
negro  slaves  chained  and  whipped.  Looking  on  at  a  slave- 
auction  must  have  given  him  a  great  shock.  While  one 
slave  after  another  was  knocked  down  to  the  highest  bidder, 
his  indignation  grew  until  at  length  he  cried  out:  "Boys, 
let's  get  away  from  this.  If  I  ever  get  a  chance  to  hit 
that  thing  [meaning  slavery],  I  will  hit  it  hard."  Little  did 
any  one  imagine  how  great  a  blow  he  would  strike  some 
thirty  years  later. 

After  the  month  spent  in  New  Orleans,  which  must 
have  passed  swiftly,  the  young  men  boarded  a  steamer  in 
June  and  made  their  way  up  the  Mississippi  River  to  St. 
Louis.  From  this  point  Lincoln  and  Johnston  tramped 
across  Illinois  to  Thomas  Lincoln's  new  home  in  Coles 
County,  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  State.  Thomas  Lincoln 
had  again  migrated,  for  he  found  that  chills  and  fever 
were  almost  as  bad  in  his  first  home  in  Illinois  as  amilk 
sickness"  had  been  in  Indiana. 

After  remaining  with  his  father  and  mother  four  or  five 
weeks,  Abraham  bade  them  good-by  and  started  out  to 
begin  a  new  venture  for  himself.  Mr.  OfTutt,  for  whom  he 
had  sold  produce  in  New  Orleans,  had  so  much  faith  in 
Lincoln  that  he  wished  the  young  man  to  manage  a  store 
for  him  in  New  Salem.  As  Abraham  left  his  father's  house 
that  July  day,  all  his  simple  belongings  were  tied  in  a  cotton 


LINCOLN  AS  A  YOUNG  MAN  39 

handkerchief  and  slung  across  his  shoulder.  It  must  have 
been  with  mingled  feelings  of  regret  and  anticipation  that 
he  left  home  and  turned  his  steps  toward  the  world  out 
side. 

The  little  town  of  New  Salem  was  perched  high  on  a 
bluff  overlooking  the  river,  at  a  spot  about  twenty  miles 
northwest  of  Springfield.  The  village  never  had  more  than 
fifteen  or  twenty  log  cabins,  crude  huts,  some  of  which  it 
had  cost  about  ten  dollars  apiece  to  build.  In  this  un 
promising  centre  Offutt  not  only  opened  a  store,  but  he 
leased  a  mill  also,  and  put  Lincoln  in  charge  of  both,  be 
lieving  he  could  do  anything  he  set  his  hand  to.  But,  as 
we  shall  see,  to  build  up  trade  in  a  poor  little  place  like 
New  Salem  was  akin  to  removing  mountains. 

For  an  assistant  Abraham  was  given  a  young  man  by 
the  name  of  Greene,  eighteen  or  nineteen  years  of  age. 
He  belonged  to  one  of  the  best  families  in  the  community, 
and  here  began  a  lifelong  friendship  between  these  two 
young  men. 

Offutt 's  great  admiration  for  his  new  manager  caused 
him  to  boast  that  he  knew  more  than  any  man  in  the 
United  States,  and  that  he  could  beat  any  man  in  New 
Salem,  or  in  the  country  around  New  Salem,  running, 
jumping,  or  "wrastling."  Of  course,  Abraham  could  not 
prevent  his  employer  from  thus  boasting  of  his  virtues, 
but  neither  could  he  escape  accounting  for  himself.  The 
boasts  so  irritated  a  gang  of  rough  young  fellows  who 


40  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

lived  at  Clary's  Grove;  about  three  miles  from  the  village, 
that  they  challenged  Lincoln  to  a  wrestling-match  with  their 
leader,  Jack  Armstrong. 

Lincoln  did  not  wish  to  engage  in  such  a  match,  but 
he  could  not  well  get  out  of  it.  Armstrong,  who  expected 
an  easy  victory,  soon  found  that  he  had  more  than  his 
match.  It  wras  impossible  to  throw  Lincoln. 

When  the  Clary's  Grove  gang  sawr  how  the  match  was 
going,  they  crowded  in,  and  by  kicking  and  tripping  Lincoln 
they  tried  to  throw  him.  His  anger  gave  him  the  strength 
of  a  giant.  Seizing  Armstrong  in  his  arms,  he  gripped 
him  by  the  throat  and  shook  him  like  a  child.  Then, 
with  his  back  against  the  wall,  he  defied  the  whole  crowd. 

The  fury  of  the  youths  changed  quickly  to  admiration 
of  the  stranger's  courage  and  skill,  and  no  one  of  them  was 
more  cordial  in  showing  it  than  Jack  Armstrong  himself. 
The  friendship  between  these  two  became  like  that  between 
brothers,  reaching  down  even  to  the  next  generation;  and 
many  years  later  Abraham  Lincoln,  as  we  shall  see,  saved 
the  life  of  Jack  Armstrong's  son. 

This  incident  of  the  combat  established  Abraham  Lin 
coln  in  the  respect  of  the  New  Salem  community.  There 
was  no  question  as  to  his  popularity.  The  Clary's  Grove 
boys  counted  him  as  the  cleverest  young  stranger  that  had 
ever  come  into  that  part  of  the  country;  and  a  year  later, 
when  Lincoln  was  running  for  the  legislature,  he  received 
every  vote  that  was  cast  at  Clary's  Grove. 


LINCOLN  AS  A  YOUNG  MAN  41 

Lincoln's  experience  as  storekeeper  in  New  Salem  brought 
out  very  prominently  one  of  the  fine  qualities  strongly 
marked  throughout  his  whole  life.  This  was  his  honesty, 
which  was  deeply  ingrained  in  his  nature.  It  was  a  trait 
that  showed  itself  in  his  clear  thought,  his  simple  language, 
and  his  freedom  from  pretense,  as  well  as  in  his  common 
every-day  acts.  Two  instances  will  show  you  howr  he  came 
at  this  time  to  receive  the  name  of  "Honest  Abe."  When, 
one  day,  he  discovered  that  a  customer  had  paid  him  six 
cents  too  much,  he  walked  three  miles  after  nightfall  to 
refund  her  the  money.  Another  time,  when  he  found  he 
had  given  false  measure,  he  was  greatly  distressed.  A 
woman  had  bought  a  half-pound  of  tea  just  at  closing 
time,  and  on  corning  to  the  store  next  morning  Lincoln 
noticed,  from  the  weights  left  on  the  scales,  that  he  had 
given  four  ounces  less  than  she  had  paid  for.  At  once  he 
closed  the  store  and  took  the  rest  of  the  tea,  wrapped  up 
in  a  package,  to  the  defrauded  customer. 

This  story  suggests  that  there  were  not  many  waiting 
customers  at  the  grocery-store,  or  Lincoln  could  not  have 
locked  it  up  and  gone  to  correct  his  mistake  so  promptly. 
It  is  true  that  he  found  himself  having  much  leisure  time, 
and  he  determined  to  apply  himself  to  study. 

Since  leaving  Indiana  he  had  seen  much  of  men  and 
life,  but  had  done  little  with  books.  So  now  was  the  time 
to  read  and  study  and  know  them  better.  He  had  observed 
that  men  of  power  were  men  who  had  knowledge;  and, 


42  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

while  always  very  modest  as  to  his  own  ability/  he  could 
not  help  knowing  that  he  had  certain  qualities  of  leader 
ship  in  common  with  them.  The  people  in  the  backwoods 
community  always  looked  up  to  him,  and  he  was  determined 
to  increase  his  power  for  leadership  by  increasing  his  knowl 
edge.  So  with  serious  intent  he  began  to  read  and  study 
books  all  he  could. 

He  talked  about  the  matter  with  Mentor  Graham,  the 
village  schoolmaster,  and  Mr.  Graham  advised  him  to  study 
English  grammar.  ' '  Where  can  I  get  an  English  grammar  ? ' 7 
asked  Lincoln.  Graham  told  him  that  there  was  a  copy 
of  Kirkham's  English  Grammar  in  a  family  about  six  miles 
away.  Lincoln  did  not  wait.  Getting  up  from  the  break 
fast-table,  he  at  once  walked  six  miles  and  back  to  get  the 
much-prized  book. 

Then  he  settled  down  to  master  it.  In  his  usual  way, 
where  books  were  concerned,  he  bent  all  his  energy  to  com 
plete  the  task.  Night  and  day  he  pored  over  the  pages  of 
the  book,  until  at  the  end  of  three  or  four  weeks  he  knew 
all  that  he  could  learn  from  the  rules  of  Kirkham's  Gram 
mar.  Sometimes  he  would  ask  his  friend  Greene,  of  the 
grocery-store,  to  hold  the  book  while  he  recited;  and  again, 
when  he  needed  assistance,  he  would  go  to  Mentor  Gra 
ham,  who  had  helped  him  to  get  the  book. 

In  such  an  earnest  and  determined  way  did  Abraham 
Lincoln  improve  his  leisure  time  while  he  was  acting  as 
clerk  in  the  grocery-store  at  New  Salem.  But  in  less  than 


LINCOLN   AS  A  YOUNG   MAN  43 

a  year  Mr.  Offutt  failed  in  business  there,  and  then  the 
studious  young  man  had  more  time  on  his  hands  than  ever. 
He  used  it  all  to  good  purpose,  for  he  was  so  eager  to 
learn  that,  whenever  he  heard  of  a  book,  he  sought  its 
owner,  borrowed  the  book,  and  was  not  satisfied  until  he 
had  made  it  a  part  of  himself.  This  love  for  books,  together 
with  his  inflexible  purpose  to  make  something  of  his  life, 
marked  Abraham  out  from  all  others  in  the  community. 
The  neighbors,  recognizing  his  strong  desire  to  improve 
himself,  were  eager  to  help  him.  Mentor  Graham  gave 
him  instruction,  the  Greenes  lent  him  books,  and  the  cooper 
in  New-  Salem  village  allowed  him  to  burn  shavings  in  his 
shop  at  night,  for  light  to  study  by. 

Another  reason  for  his  success  in  New  Salem,  as  it  had 
always  been  wherever  he  had  lived,  was  his  great  kindness. 
He  was  always  ready  to  help  others.  If  a  wagon  mired 
in  the  crooked,  muddy  lane  which  was  the  only  street  in 
New  Salem,  he  was  among  the  first  to  offer  his  assistance. 
If  a  poor  widow's  wood-pile  was  low,  he  chopped  wood  for 
her.  He  sat  by  the  bedside  of  the  sick.  He  rocked  the 
cradle  for  tired  mothers.  In  truth,  wherever  there  was  an 
opportunity  to  reach  out  a  helping  hand,  there  was  Abra 
ham  Lincoln  with  friendly  sympathy  and  kindly  service. 
Thus  he  made  friends,  and  all  who  knew  this  young  back 
woodsman  not  only  respected  and  admired  him  for  his 
ability,  but  loved  him  for  his  tender  heart  and  generous 
spirit. 


CHAPTER  III 

LINCOLN   A   LEARNER   IN  THE   SCHOOL   OF 
EXPERIENCE 

IT  was  during  this  period,  when  Lincoln  had  neither 
home  nor  regular  work,  that  an  opportunity  came  to  him 
for  a  new  experience. 

One  April  morning,  in  1832,  the  Governor's  messenger 
rode  into  New  Salem  scattering  circulars  that  created  much 
excitement.  They  were  addressed  to  the  militia  and  an 
nounced  that  the  Indian  chief  Black  Hawk  was  on  the 
war-path.  They  called  for  volunteers  to  meet  at  Beards- 
town  within  a  week. 

Early  in  March  Lincoln  had  announced  himself  as  can 
didate  for  the  State  legislature,  the  election  to  which  would 
take  place  in  the  autumn.  But  he  was  one  of  the  first  to 
volunteer  for  the  war.  He  and  one  other  were  rivals  for 
the  position  of  captain.  The  men  voted  by  gathering,  as 
their  names  were  called,  around  the  leader  whom  they  chose, 
and  three-fourths  of  them  took  their  places  about  Lincoln. 
He  said  later  that  no  success  ever  came  to  him  which  he 
appreciated  so  much. 

The  men  were  a  motley-looking  group,  each  being  dressed 
and  equipped  as  he  saw  fit.  Many  wore  deerskin  breeches, 
a  few  coonskin  hats,  and  all  had  powder-horns  thrown 

44 


A  LEARNER  IN  THE  SCHOOL  OF  EXPERIENCE    45 

over  their  shoulders.    It  was  no  easy  task  to  govern  them, 
because  they  had  the  pioneer  spirit  of  doing  pretty  much 


Selecting  Lincoln  as  Captain 

as  they  pleased;  but  this  independence  was  out  of  place  in 
the  army,  where  every  man  must  forget  himself  and  take 
orders  from  his  commanding  officer. 

As  captain,  Lincoln  did  not  always  know  his  duties. 
Among  his  many  borrowed  books  there  seems  never  to  have 


46  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

been  one  on  military  rules  and  regulations.  Between  the 
waywardness  of  his  men,  therefore,  and  his  own  ignorance 
of  military  terms,  his  discipline  was  far  from  efficient.  On 
one  occasion  his  superior  officer  took  away  Lincoln's  sword 
because  he  fired  off  a  gun  within  the  camp  limits.  On  an 
other  occasion,  when  the  soldiers  stole  some  liquor  at  night 
and  drank  so  much  that  they  were  unable  to  "fall  in"  the 
next  morning,  Captain  Lincoln  was  humiliated  by  having 
to  wear  a  wooden  sword  for  two  days. 

His  unfamiliarity  with  military  terms  brought  about 
some  humorous  situations.  One  day  his  company  was  ad 
vancing  across  a  field  with  a  front  of  over  twenty  men, 
when  they  approached  a  narrow  gateway,  through  which 
they  would  have  to  pass  in  single  file.  Lincoln  had  to  give 
the  order,  but  he  did  not  know  what  to  say.  It  was  neces 
sary  to  think  quickly.  Here  is  his  own  story  of  what  he  did : 
"I  could  not  for  the  life  of  me  remember  the  proper  word  for 
getting  my  company  endwise,  so  that  I  could  get  it  through 
the  gate ;  so,  as  we  came  near,  I  shouted :  i  This  company  is 
dismissed  for  two  minutes,  when  it  will  fall  in  again  on  the 
other  side  of  the  gate  ! ' 

But,  in  spite  of  his  ignorance  of  military  rules,  his  men 
admired  him  because  of  his  physical  strength,  his  good 
humor,  and  his  ready  wit.  They  cheerfully  obeyed  his 
commands  because  they  liked  him  so  much. 

Lincoln  saw  no  fighting,  but  he  had  opportunity  to 
show  his  fearlessness  by  risking  his  life  to  save  a  helpless 


Abraham  Lincoln  at  About  Thirty-five  Years  of  Age.     From  a  Photograph 
after  a  Daguerreotype  in  Possession  of  Hon.  Robert  T.  Lincoln 


48  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Indian  who  came  to  the  camp  one  day  bearing  a  pass  from 
the  commanding  general.  This  Indian  was  a  trusted  friend 
of  the  white  people.  But  Lincoln's  men;  not  knowing  him 
and  fiercely  hating  all  Indians,  desired  to  kill  him.  They 
seized  him  and  were  about  to  shoot  him  when  Lincoln  de 
clared  that  he  should  not  be  harmed.  After  vainly  trying 
argument  and  persuasion,  at  the  risk  of  his  own  life  he 
placed  himself  between  the  rifles  of  his  angry  men  and 
their  victim,  thus  saving  the  Indian's  life. 

The  war,  which  ended  in  the  defeat  of  Black  Hawk, 
was  a  short  and  uneventful  one,  and  before  fall  Lincoln 
was  back  in  NewT  Salem,  ready  to  plunge  into  the  political 
campaign  for  election  to  the  legislature.  When  he  had 
announced  himself  as  a  candidate  he  issued  the  following 
statement:  "Every  man  is  said  to  have  his  peculiar  am 
bition.  Whether  it  be  true  or  not,  I  can  say  for  one  that 
I  have  no  other  so  great  as  that  of  being  truly  esteemed  of 
my  fellow  men  by  rendering  myself  worthy  of  their  esteem. 
How  far/'  he  added,  "I  shall  succeed  in  gratifying  this 
ambition  is  yet  to  be  developed.  I  am  young  and  un 
known  to  many  of  you.  I  was  born  and  have  ever  re 
mained  in  the  most  humble  walks  of  life,  and  if  the  good 
people  in  their  wisdom  shall  see  fit  to  keep  me  in  the  back 
ground,  I  have  been  too  familiar  with  disappointment  to 
be  very  much  chagrined." 

Although  Lincoln  received  all  but  seven  of  the  two  hun 
dred  and  eighty-four  votes  cast  in  his  voting  district — 


A  LEARNER  IN  THE   SCHOOL  OF  EXPERIENCE     49 

which  included  the  village  of  New  Salem  and  the  surround 
ing  country — he  was  defeated  in  the  election.  This  was 
especially  disappointing  as  he  was  without  either  money 
or  business.  But  in  his  brief  military  career,  and  his  still 
briefer  political  campaign,  he  had  broadened  his  experi 
ence,  and  was  not  content  to  take  up  again  the  dull  routine 
of  the  ordinary  day-laborer.  Yet  he  had  to  do  something 
to  earn  money  enough  to  supply  his  simple  wants.  So  for 
a  time  he  took  up  odd  jobs.  Sometimes  he  would  help  in 
the  corn-field,  and  at  other  times  he  would  chop  logs  and 
split  rails,  build  fences,  or  do  whatever  task,  light  or  heavy, 
happened  to  come  his  way. 

There  were  many  places  in  New  Salem  where  he  was 
always  welcome.  Two  of  the  homes  where  he  went  most 
often  were  those  of  Bolin  Green  and  Jack  Armstrong,  the 
hero  of  Clary's  Grove.  Hannah  Armstrong,  Jack's  wife, 
took  pleasure  in  making  him  feel  at  home  with  the  family. 
"Abe  would  come  out  to  my  house/'  she  said,  "drink 
milk,  eat  mush,  corn  bread  and  butter,  bring  the  children 
candy,  and  rock  the  cradle  while  I  got  him  something 
to  eat.  ...  He  stayed  at  our  house  two  or  three  days  at 
a  time." 

Naturally,  Lincoln's  friends,  since  he  had  such  uncer 
tain  means  of  support,  gave  him  much  advice  as  to  what 
occupation  he  might  best  take  up.  On  account  of  his 
great  physical  strength,  one  of  them  advised  him  to  become 
a  blacksmith.  But  he  preferred  an  occupation  which 


50  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

would  give  him  more  leisure  for  study  and  an  opportunity 
to  come  into  touch  with  the  world  of  thought. 

Having  already  tried  storekeeping,  he  knew  that  this 
gave  opportunity  to  meet  the  leading  men  in  the  com 
munity  and  discuss  with  them  politics,  religion,  and  other 
topics  of  interest,  and  at  the  same  time  tell  to  eager  lis 
teners  the  stories  he  enjoyed  narrating.  Besides,  in  the 
villages  where  he  had  lived  the  storekeeper  was  a  leading 
man.  So  he  decided  to  take  up  storekeeping,  and  in  the 
autumn  of  1832  he  and  a  man  named  Berry  bought  three 
grocery-stores  in  New  Salem.  Having  nothing  to  pay, 
they  gave  their  notes. 

They  appear  not  to  have  done  a  thriving  business,  but 
Lincoln  turned  his  leisure  to  good  account.  Scouring  the 
town  and  the  entire  community  for  books,  he  pored  over 
their  pages,  even  forgetting  sometimes  his  waiting  custom 
ers.  It  was  no  uncommon  thing  to  find  him  sitting  upon 
a  wood-pile  or  lying  on  his  back  under  the  oak-tree  just 
outside  the  store  door,  with  his  feet  resting  high  above  his 
head  against  the  trunk,  "grinding  around  with  the  shade/7 
When  his  neighbors  came  and  saw  him  reading  in  this  posi 
tion,  many  of  them  laughed  and  some  thought  he  was 
losing  his  mind.  But  Lincoln  knew  what  he  was  about. 
He  was  preparing  himself  for  the  larger,  richer  life  he 
hoped  to  live. 

It  was  during  this  period  that  a  little  incident  occurred 
which,  although  apparently  unimportant,  changed  the  whole 


A  LEARNER  IN  THE  SCHOOL  OF  EXPERIENCE     51 

course  of  his  life.  It  is  better,  perhaps,  that  we  should  hear 
the  story  in  Lincoln's  own  words:  "One  day/7  he  said,  aa 
man  who  was  migrating  to  the  West  drove  up  in  front  of 
my  store  in  a  wagon  that  contained  his  family  and  house 
hold  plunder.  He  asked  me  if  I  would  buy  an  old  barrel 
for  which  he  had  no  room  in  his  wagon,  and  which  he  said 
contained  nothing  of  special  value.  I  did  not  want  it,  but 
to  oblige  him  I  bought  it  and  paid  him,  I  think,  half  a 
dollar  for  it.  Without  further  examination  I  put  it  away 
in  the  cellar  and  forgot  all  about  it.  Some  time  after,  in 
overhauling  things,  I  came  upon  the  barrel,  and  emptying 
it  upon  the  floor  to  see  what  it  contained,  I  found  at  the 
bottom  of  the  rubbish  a  complete  edition  of  Blackstone's 
e  Commentaries/  ' 

This  book,  as  you  may  know,  was  once  an  authority  in 
law.  To  Lincoln  it  was  a  true  gold-mine.  He  had  a  na 
tural  bent  for  legal  matters,  and  it  awakened  his  deepest 
interest.  He  read  it  hour  by  hour  and  day  by  day,  never 
wearying. 

But  this  reading  of  law  and  other  books  did  not  help 
out  his  storekeeping.  Neither  partner  was  giving  careful 
attention  to  the  business;  for,  while  Lincoln  was  studying, 
his  partner  Berry,  who  was  a  gambler  and  drinker,  spent 
much  of  his  time  in  the  back  of  the  store,  where  the 
liquor  was  kept.  A  business  which  runs  itself  cannot  be 
expected  to  run  long,  and  the  storekeeping  venture  did 
not  prosper. 


52  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

But,  fortunately  for  Lincoln,  in  the  spring  of  1833  he 
was  appointed  postmaster.  Although  the  mails  were  scant, 
the  new  position  helped  out  a  little.  Twice  a  week  the 
mails  were  supposed  to  come,  but  many  times  there  was 
none  for  two  weeks  or  even  for  a  longer  period.  Lincoln 
carried  the  letters  in  the  crown  of  his  hat  and  delivered  the 
mail  to  the  people  as  he  met  them,  or  took  it  out  to  their 
houses,  some  of  them  at  a  considerable  distance,  as  the 
community  was  a  scattered  one.  It  was  his  privilege  as 
postmaster  to  read  all  the  newspapers  that  came  to  the 
post-office;  and  he  could  usually  tell  the  recipient,  in  ad 
vance,  all  that  the  newspaper  contained.  Perhaps  this  op 
portunity  to  read  the  newspapers  was  the  perquisite  which 
most  strongly  appealed  to  Lincoln  when  he  accepted  the 
position  of  postmaster. 

As  we  might  expect  from  the  haphazard  way  in  which 
their  storekeeping  was  conducted,  Berry  and  Lincoln  at 
last  completely  failed.  So  they  were  quite  willing  to  sell 
out  to  two  brothers  who  offered  to  buy  in  the  spring  of 
1833.  These  men  gave  their  notes  to  Lincoln  and  his  part 
ner  in  payment,  just  as  Berry  and  Lincoln  had  given  theirs 
in  the  first  place.  It  was  an  unfortunate  transaction,  for 
not  long  afterward  both  men  disappeared  without  having 
paid  anything.  About  the  same  time  Lincoln's  partner 
died,  thus  leaving  all  the  debts  for  Lincoln  to  pay.  They 
amounted  to  eight  hundred  dollars. 

As  we  know,  Lincoln  was  a  poor  man,  and  the  only 


A  LEARNER  IN  THE   SCHOOL  OF  EXPERIENCE     53 

work  he  could  get  was  manual  labor,  which  paid  him  very 
little.  But  he  went  to  the  creditors  and  told  them  that  he 
would  save  up  all  the  money  that  he  could  beyond  what 
he  needed  for  his  current  expenses,  and  that  in  the  end  he 
would  pay  them  every  dollar  of  the  debt.  It  seemed  to 
him  almost  impossible  that  he  should  ever  be  clear  of  this 
obligation.  He  used  to  speak  of  it  as  the  national  debt. 
But  he  continued  paying,  even  though  it  took  him  seven 
teen  or  eighteen  years  to  pay  the  eleven  hundred  dollars 
to  which  the  debts  with  accrued  interest  amounted.  He 
had  failed  in  business,  but  he  had  not  failed  in  a  high  sense 
of  honor. 

An  incident  which  further  reveals  the  firm  honesty  so 
deeply  ingrained  in  Lincoln's  nature,  belongs  to  this  try 
ing  period  and  relates  to  his  duties  as  postmaster.  In 
the  remote  villages  in  those  early  days,  agents  from  the 
Post-Office  Department  did  not  come  around  very  often 
to  examine  the  accounts  and  collect  the  money  due.  It 
was  therefore  several  years  after  the  post-office  at  New 
Salem  had  closed,  and  while  Lincoln  was  living  in  Spring 
field,  that  an  agent  came  one  day  and  asked  for  the 
money,  a  sum  amounting  to  something  like  seventeen 
dollars,  which  was  still  due  from  New  Salem  to  the  Post- 
Office  Department.  Lincoln  at  once  went  to  a  small  trunk 
standing  in  the  corner  of  the  little  room  which  he  used  as 
an  office,  and  took  out  the  exact  sum  which  the  agent 
demanded,  tied  up  in  a  cotton  handkerchief.  He  handed 


54  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

it  over  with  the  remark:    "I  never  use  any  man's  money 
but  my  own." 

After  his  store  "winked  out/7  to  use  his  own  words,  he 
had  nothing  to  do  but  attend  to  the  little  post-office  and 
take  the  odd  jobs  which  came  to  his  hand.  Sometimes  he' 
went  into  the  field  and  worked  as  a  farm-hand.  Sometimes 
he  helped  to  straighten  out  the  books  in  the  store  of  his 
friend  Ellis.  It  is  very  likely  that  he  worked  for  his  board 
oftener  than  for  anything  else.  But,  as  we  have  seen  in 
other  cases,  he  was  always  a  welcome  guest  in  any  farm 
house.  Every  hard-working  wroman  in  the  community 
would  gladly  put  on  an  extra  plate  when  Abraham  Lin 
coln  came  to  the  house,  or  do  extra  darning  or  sewing  for 
him  whenever  he  needed  help  of  that  kind. 

In  the  summer  of  1833  a  piece  of  good  fortune  came  to 
him.  John  Calhoun,  the  county  surveyor  of  Sangamon 
County,  had  more  work  than  he  could  do,  for  the  county 
was  a  large  one  and  settlers  were  coming  there  in  great 
numbers.  Of  course  every  landowner  wished  to  have  his 
farm  surveyed  and  its  boundaries  marked  out.  Besides, 
in  almost  every  county  there  was  a  group  of  men  who 
wished  to  make  money  by  speculating  in  land,  upon  which 
they  hoped  to  locate  towns  or  cities.  All  of  this  called  for 
much  work  on  the  part  of  the  surveyor. 

So  Calhoun,  looking  about  for  some  man  accurate  and 
intelligent  enough  to  help  him,  offered  to  appoint  Lincoln 
as  assistant  county  surveyor.  In  this  position  he  would 


A  LEARNER  IN  THE   SCHOOL  OF  EXPERIENCE     55 

be  able  to  earn  three  dollars  a  day.  Here  indeed  was  a 
bright  opening,  and  Lincoln  determined  to  study  survey 
ing  and  accept  the  offer. 


He  Studied  Surveying  Just  as  Thoroughly  as  He  Had  Studied  Grammar 

Getting  a  book  on  surveying,  Lincoln  again  went  out 
to  his  old  friend  Mentor  Graham  for  help.     With  wonder 
ful  concentration  the  young  man  studied  day  and  night— 
sometimes  the  whole  night — for  six  weeks.     By  that  time 


56  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

he  had  learned  the  subject  so  well  that  he  could  go  out 
and  survey  a  field  accurately.  But  he  had  worked  so  hard 
that  his  health  was  in  danger,  and  he  became  so  haggard 
that  his  friends  were  greatly  disturbed.  He  studied  sur 
veying  just  as  thoroughly  as  he  had  studied  grammar,  and 
just  as  eagerly  as  he  had  read  the  Statutes  of  Indiana,  or 
the  dictionary  in  the  earlier  days  of  his  youth. 

This  burning  desire  to  know  things  clearly  and  thor 
oughly  was  a  marked  trait  in  him.  We  are  told  that  dur 
ing  his  boyhood  it  vexed  him  when  he  heard  some  one  use 
a  word  which  he  could  not  understand.  Quoting  his  own 
language,  we  have  the  following:  "I  can  say  this:  that 
among  my  earliest  recollections  I  remember  how;  when 
a  mere  child,  I  used  to  get  irritated  when  any  one  talked 
to  me  in  a  way  that  I  could  not  understand.  I  do  not  think 
that  I  got  angiy  at  anything  else  in  my  life.  But  that  al 
ways  disturbed  my  temper,  and  has  ever  since.  I  can  re 
member  going  to  my  little  bedroom  after  hearing  the 
neighbors  talk  of  an  evening  with  my  father,  and  spending 
no  small  part  of  the  night  walking  up  and  down  and  trying 
to  make  out  what  was  the  exact  meaning  of  some  of  their, 
to  me,  dark  sayings. 

"I  could  not  sleep,  although  I  tried  to,  when  I  got  on 
such  a  hunt  for  an  idea,  until  I  had  caught  it;  and  when 
I  thought  I  had  got  it,  I  was  not  satisfied  until  I  had  re 
peated  it  over  and  over;  until  I  had  put  it  in  language 
plain  enough,  as  I  thought,  for  any  boy  I  knew  to  com- 


A  LEARNER  IN  THE  SCHOOL  OF  EXPERIENCE     57 

prehend.  This  was  a  kind  of  passion  with  me,  and  it  al 
ways  stuck  by  me;  for  I  am  never  easy  now,  when  I  am 
handling  a  thought,  till  I  have  bounded  it  north  and 
bounded  it  south,  and  bounded  it  east  and  bounded  it 
west/' 

He  was  a  good  surveyor  because  he  was  careful  and 
accurate.  He  was  also  called  on  often  to  settle  boundary 
disputes,  because  of  his  fairness.  This  new  occupation 
served  also  to  extend  his  acquaintance.  He  met  many 
people  who  became  his  warm  and  loyal  friends  and  were 
of  much  value  to  him  later  in  his  public  life. 

One  of  them  proved  his  friendship  in  a  very  practical 
way.  In  1834  Lincoln  was  in  a  hard  place.  A  man 
who  held  one  of  the  notes  which  Berry  and  Lincoln  gave 
when  buying  the  stores  in  New  Salem  obtained  judgment 
against  him,  and  his  horse,  saddle,  and  surveying  instru 
ments  were  all  sold  in  payment  of  the  debt.  This  was 
a  severe  blow  to  the  struggling  young  surveyor,  for  these 
were  the  means  by  which,  according  to  his  own  words, 
he  "procured  bread  and  kept  body  and  soul  together. " 
But  his  friend  came  to  the  rescue  by  purchasing  Lincoln's 
property  and  then  turning  it  over  to  him.  Of  course, 
when  he  could,  Lincoln  paid  back  to  his  friend  all  the 
money  he  had  expended. 

In  1834  Lincoln  was  again  a  candidate  for  the  legisla 
ture,  and  this  time  he  won  the  election.  In  the  fall  of  that 
year  he  went  to  Vandalia,  then  the  State  capital,  for  his  first 


58  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

term.  He  did  not  make  a  brilliant  record,  but  was  observed 
to  be  a  quiet,  thoughtful  young  man,  with  good  common 
.sense  and  good  nature.  He  was  really  at  his  university, 
learning,  observing,  thinking. 


State-House  at  Vandalia  where  Lincoln  Served  as  a  Legislator  in  1834-5 

In  1835,  after  his  first  session,  he  returned  to  New 
Salem  with  a  larger  outlook  on  life.  During  the  winter  he 
had  met  some  of  the  leading  men  of  the  State.  He  had 
had  an  opportunity  to  study  them,  to  find  out  in  what 
ways  he  was  equal  to  them  and  in  what  ways  he  fell  short, 
and  he  observed  in  all  modesty  that  in  many  respects  he 
was  quite  their  equal. 


A  LEARNER  IN  THE   SCHOOL  OF  EXPERIENCE     59 

His  return  to  New  Salem  at  this  time  was  particularly 
happy  for  him,  for  there  he  had  formed  the  acquaintance 
of  a  charming  young  woman,  Ann  Rutledge,  who  had  com 
pletely  won  his  affection  and  whom  he  now  hoped  to 
marry.  In  the  latter  part  of  1832  he  had  gone  to  board  at' 
the  Rutledge  Tavern,  kept  by  her  father,  and  there  he 
saw  her  every  day. 

She  was  beautiful  and  gentle,  attractive  in  manner  and 
strong  in  character.  Such  a  young  woman,  of  course,  had 
many  friends  and  also  suitors,  and  she  had  become  engaged 
to  John  McNeil,  a  young  man  who  had  come  from  New 
York  to  New  Salem  some  years  before.  Although  nothing 
was  known  about  his  family,  he  was  regarded  as  a  success 
ful  business  man,  for  he  had  acquired  enough  money  to 
buy  a  large  farm  not  far  from  New  Salem  and  also  a  half- 
interest  in  a  general  store  in  the  village.  It  had  been  a 
case  of  love  at  first  sight  between  him  and  Ann  Rutledge. 
But  in  course  of  time  McNeil  became  restless,  and  deter 
mined  to  return  East.  He  told  Ann  that  he  would  come 
back,  bringing  his  father  and  mother,  and  then  they  would 
be  married. 

It  was  in  the  spring  of  1834  that  McNeil  left  for  New 
York.  As  you  know,  travel  by  horse  and  afoot  was  slow 
in  those  days.  Moreover,  on  the  way  across  the  continent 
McNeil  fell  ill  with  chills  and  fever.  Ann  Rutledge  there 
fore  had  to  wait  a  long  time  before  she  received  any  letter 
from  her  lover.  Finally,  after  his  arrival  in  New  York  late 


GO  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

in  the  summer,  he  wrote;  but  then  no  further  letters 
came.  Lincoln,  being  postmaster,  could  not  help  know 
ing  about  any  letters  which  Ann  might  receive  or  send. 
In  fact,  she  seems  to  have  made  him  her  confidant  in  her 
anxiety. 

Lincoln  had  long  loved  Ann;  but  he  did  not  venture  to 
reveal  to  her  his  affection  until  many  months  after  McNeil 
had  left,  and  his  letters  ceased  to  come.  Then  he  told  her 
of  his  love  and  begged  her  to  become  his  wife.  ALfter  a 
long  time  she  consented,  but  Lincoln  was  so  poor  that  it- 
was  necessary  to  wait  until  his  prospects  of  a  livelihood 
were  better. 

Now,  on  his  return  from  the  legislature  he  believed 
that  he  could  at  no  distant  day  earn  enough  to  make  it  safe 
for  him  to  marry;  and  Ann  promised  to  become  his  wife 
after  she  should  have  spent  another  year  in  school,  and  he 
meantime  should  be  admitted  to  the  bar. 

The  future  looked  happy  to  them  both,  and  their  friends 
in  the  village  rejoiced  with  them.  But  after  a  few  months 
Ann  Rutledge  became  disturbed  by  torturing  doubts.  She 
wondered  whether  she  was  wronging  her  first  lover;  she 
wondered  whether  she  was  true  to  him;  whether  he  would 
ever  return;  whether  he  still  loved  her,  even  though  she 
loved  another.  These  thoughts  so  wore  upon  her  that  she 
became  seriously  ill  with  a  fever.  Lincoln  at  first  was  not 
allowed  to  visit  her,  but  she  begged  so  earnestly  to  see  him 
that  at  last  he  was  permitted  to  go  to  her.  It  was  the  last 


A  LEARNER  IN  THE  SCHOOL  OF  EXPERIENCE     61 

time  the  two  lovers  ever  saw  each  other,  for  shortly  after 
ward  Ann  Rutledge  died. 

Lincoln  was  almost  distracted  with  grief.  As  his 
mother  had  been,  he  was  subject  to  fits  of  melancholy,  and 
the  loss  of  that  rare  companionship  was  almost  more  than 
his  sensitive  soul  could  bear.  Heart  and  mind  were  rent, 
and  for  a  time  it  was  feared  he  might  lose  his  reason.  He 
would  walk  for  hours  slowly  along  the  river  bank  and 
through  the  forests,  muttering  strangely  to  himself,  and 
his  friends,  believing  he  was  on  the  verge  of  madness,  kept 
a  close  watch  on  him  for  fear  he  might  kill  himself. 

Ann  Rutledge's  body  was  buried  in  Concord  Cemetery, 
about  seven  miles  from  New  Salem.  There  Lincoln  fre 
quently  went  to  mourn  over  her  grave.  After  a  time  one 
of  his  most  devoted  friends,  Bolin  Green,  took  him  to  his 
own  house,  where  he  and  his  wife  tenderly  cared  for  him 
until  he  again  became  master  of  himself.  In  the  later 
years  of  his  troubled  life  Lincoln  never  ceased  to  think  of 
Ann  Rutledge  with  tender  memories.  He  said:  "I  really 
and  truly  loved  the  girl  and  think  often  of  her  now."  Then, 
after  a  little  pause,  he  added:  ".  .  .  and  I  have  loved  the 
name  of  Rutledge  to  this  day." 

But  Abraham  Lincoln  was  not  the  kind  of  man  to  give 
up  to  a  sorrow  even  as  heart-breaking  as  this.  In  a  short 
time  he  again  took  up  active  duties  in  preparation  for 
the  great  life-work  which  lay  before  him. 


CHAPTER  IV 
LAWYER  AND  CITIZEN  IN  SPRINGFIELD 

IN  1836  Lincoln  was  elected  for  his  second  term  in  the 
legislature.  AYhen  this  term  closed  (1837),  he  went  back 
to  New  Salem,  where  he  had  lived  for  nearly  six  years. 
But  he  did  not  stay  long,  for  he  had  determined  to  take 
up  the  practice  of  law  in  Springfield.  Major  Stuart,  his 
adviser  and  friend,  had  invited  him  to  come  into  his  office 
as  partner.  This  was  an  excellent  opening  for  Lincoln, 
for  Major  Stuart  held  a  leading  place  among  the  lawyers 
and  politicians  of  the  State  and  could  therefore  be  helpful 
to  him  in  securing  business. 

Lincoln  had  already  been  twice  associated  with  Stuart 
in  ways  that  brought  them  closely  into  touch  with  each 
other.  For  while  Lincoln  was  captain  of  the  company  of 
volunteers  in  the  Black  Hawk  War,  Stuart  was  major  in 
the  same  regiment;  and  both  men  had  been  elected  as 
Whigs  in  1834  to  represent  Sangamon  County  in  the  State 
legislature.  It  was  during  that  campaign  that  Stuart  ad 
vised  Lincoln  to  become  a  lawyer;  and  after  the  election 
Lincoln  took  up  the  study  of  law  seriously,  although  he 
had  read  law  more  or  less  before  this  time. 

In  the  autumn  of  1836  he  received  his  license  to  prac 
tise  law,  and  in  April  of  the  following  year  he  was  ready  to 

62 


Lincoln  in  1858 — Age  49. 

From  a  photograph  loaned  by  W.  J.  Franklin,  of  Macomb,  III., 
after  an  ambrotype. 


64  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

go  to  Springfield;  which  had  now  become,  largely  through 
his  own  influence  in  the  legislature,  the  capital  of  the 
State.  So  he  packed  his  scanty  clothing  and  few  effects 
into  his  saddle-bags  and,  borrowing  a  horse,  left  the  place 
where  life  had  held  for  him  so  much  more  of  sorrow  than 
of  joy. 

It  was  with  some  doubt  as  to  the  wisdom  of  his  act 
that  he  gave  up  surveying,  for  he  was  making  a  fairly 
good  living  in  that  work,  while  success  in  the  practice  of 
law  was  as  yet  uncertain.  His  money  obligations  too  were 
heavy.  Very  little  of  his  store  debt  had  been  paid,  and  his 
father's  family  needed  far  more  assistance  from  him  than 
he  could  afford  to  give. 

On  arriving  in  Springfield  he  was  much  cast  down. 
He  was  in  one  of  his  moods  of  deep  depression  and  melan 
choly.  He  went  directly  to  the  store  of  his  friend  Joshua 
Speed,  a  prosperous  young  merchant,  who  tells  in  his  own 
words  the  story  of  what  happened,  as  follows: 

"  Lincoln  had  ridden  into  town  on  a  borrowed  horse, 
with  no  earthly  property  save  a  pair  of  saddle-bags  con 
taining  a  few  clothes.  I  was  a  merchant  at  Springfield, 
and  kept  a  large  country  store,  embracing  dry-goods,  gro 
ceries,  hardware,  books,  medicines,  bedclothes,  mattresses 
—in  fact,  everything  that  the  country  needed. 

"  Lincoln  came  into  the  store  with  his  saddle-bags  on 
his  arm.  He  said  he  wanted  to  buy  the  furniture  for  a 
single  bed.  The  mattress,  blankets,  sheets,  coverlet,  and 


LAWYER  AND   CITIZEN  IN  SPRINGFIELD  65 

pillow,  according  to  the  figures  made  by  me,  would  cost  sev 
enteen  dollars.  He  said  that  perhaps  was  cheap  enough; 
but;  small  as  the  price  was,  he  was  unable  to  pay  it.  But 
if  I  would  credit  him  till  Christmas,  and  his  experiment  as 
a  lawyer  was  a  success,  he  would  pay  then;  saying  in  the 
saddest  tone,  'If  I  fail  in  this,  I  do  not  know  that  I  can 
ever  pay  you.'  As  I  looked  up  at  him,  I  thought  then,  and 
I  think  now,  that  I  never  saw  a  sadder  face. 

"I  said  to  him:  'You  seem  to  be  much  pained  at  con 
tracting  so  small  a  debt.  I  think  I  can  suggest  a  plan  by 
which  you  can  avoid  the  debt  and  at  the  same  time  attain 
your  end.  I  have  a  large  room  with  a  double  bed  up 
stairs,  which  you  are  welcome  to  share  with  me.' 

"'Where  is  your  room?'  said  he. 

"'Up-stairs/  said  I,  pointing  to  a  pair  of  winding  stairs, 
which  led  from  the  store  to  my  room. 

aHe  took  his  saddle-bags  on  his  arm,  went  up-stairs,  set 
them  on  the  floor,  and  came  down,  with  the  most  changed 
expression  of  countenance.  Beaming  with  pleasure,  he  ex 
claimed:  'Well,  Speed,  I  am  moved." 

Lincoln  was  fortunate  in  being  associated  as  partner 
with  a  man  so  prominent  as  Major  Stuart,  for  this  partner 
ship  of  itself  helped  to  give  him  a  good  standing  in  the  com 
munity.  From  the  first  he  was  willing  to  do  his  part  as  a 
citizen  of  Springfield,  and  took  an  interest  in  all  phases  of 
the  community  life.  Here,  too,  as  in  New  Salem,  he  easily 
made  friends  of  all  because  he  was  helpful  and  took  a  kindly 


66  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

interest  in  the  life  of  those  about  him.  He  recognized 
everybody  he  met  on  the  street,  and  he  seemed  to  have 
time  to  talk  with  any  friend  or  neighbor  who  was  in  a  talk 
ative  mood.  Moreover,  he  took  an  interest  in  everything 
going  on,  in  every  house  that  was  built,  in  every  street 
that  was  opened.  He  joined  a  group  of  young  men  in 
forming  a  debating  club,  and  in  other  ways  he  played  his 
part  in  the  intellectual  life  of  the  town,  which  then  con 
tained  about  fifteen  hundred  people.  He  was  also  more 
or  less  identified  with  the  social  life  about  him,  although 
this  was  not  the  kind  of  life  that  appealed  to  him  most. 

Within  two  years  from  the  time  when  he  went  to  Spring 
field  to  live  he  met  a  young  woman  belonging  to  a  promi 
nent  Kentucky  family.  This  was  Miss  Mary  Todd.  She 
was  now  making  her  home  with  her  sister,  who  was  the  wife 
of  Ninian  Edwards,  one  of  Lincoln's  political  friends.  The 
Edwards  family  was  one  of  influence  in  Springfield. 

Miss  Todd,  who  was  proud-spirited  and  ambitious  for 
social  position,  took  a  leading  part  in  the  social  life  of  the 
town.  Brought  up  among  the  refinements  of  life,  and 
being  brilliant,  witty,  and  well-educated,  she  received  at 
tention  from  many  young  men.  It  was  soon  evident,  how 
ever,  that  Mr.  Lincoln  held  the  first  place  in  her  esteem. 

The  friendship  between  Lincoln  and  Miss  Todd  grew 
rapidly,  but  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Edwards  opposed  her  accepting 
Lincoln  as  a  suitor.  They  said  he  had  been  brought  up  in 
a  poor  and  humble  home;  that  he  was  careless  about  social 


LAWYER  AND   CITIZEN  IN  SPRINGFIELD  67 

forms  and  indifferent  to  social  life.  But  the  young  woman 
knew  her  own  mind.  She  seemed  to  believe,  after  a  brief 
acquaintance  with  the  awkward  young  lawyer,  that  he 
would  in  time  fill  positions  of  large  influence  in  his  State 
and  country.  She  even  predicted  that  he  would  become 
President  of  the  United  States.  Sometime  in  1840  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  Miss  Todd  became  engaged  to  be  married. 

It  was  not  long  before  there  was  more  or  less  disagree 
ment  between  the  two  lovers,  so  different  were  they  in  ex 
perience,  tastes,  and  ambitions  in  life.  Lincoln's  world 
was  not  that  of  society;  and  therefore  in  certain  little 
ways  that  count  in  social  life  he  was  lacking.  He  often 
failed,  for  instance,  to  go  with  Miss  Todd  to  social  gather 
ings,  thereby  causing  misunderstandings,  which  sometimes 
led  to  quarrels  between  the  two;  and  it  did  not  take  long 
for  Lincoln  to  learn  that  love-making  with  this  brilliant, 
proud  young  woman  was  not  all  sunshine.  There  were 
many  stormy  experiences,  and  he  began  to  doubt  whether 
he  could  ever  make  her  happy.  As  time  went  on,  his 
doubts  increased,  and  he  made  up  his  mind  that  he  and 
Miss  Todd  were  not  suited  to  each  other.  After  long  and 
painful  hesitation,  therefore,  he  broke  the  engagement. 

Then  followed  a  period  of  gloom  and  despair  like  that 
which  came  after  the  death  of  Ann  Rutledge.  It  was 
plain  to  Lincoln  that  the  young  woman  loved  him  and, 
always  deeply  sensitive  in  matters  of  conscience,  he  feared 
that  he  had  done  her  an  injustice.  So  harrowing  became 


68 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


his  sorrow  and  distress  that  all  the  melancholy  in  his  tem 
perament  asserted  itself,  and  he  declared  he  could  never 
be  happy  again. 

During  the  summer  of  1842,  however,  through  the  good 
offices  of  friends  the  lovers  were  brought  together  again, 

and  their  former 
relations  were 
restored.  One 
morning  the  two 
young  people 
suddenly  inform 
ed  Mrs.  Edwards 
that  they  had  de- 

The  Edwards  Residence,  Springfield,  where  Lincoln  Clded   to    be    mar- 

Was  Married.  •     i          • ,  i  i 

ned  without  de 
lay.  The  whole  affair  was  so  unexpected  that  no  elaborate 
ceremony  was  possible,  and  the  bride  even  found  it  neces 
sary  to  borrow  a  wedding-gown  from  a  sister  who  had 
been  recently  married.  The  wedding  took  place  in  the 
autumn  of  1842,  and  the  young  couple  at  once  began  life 
in  a  simple  way,  in  a  modest  hotel,  where  they  paid  four 
dollars  a  week  for  their  board. 

Meanwhile  Lincoln  was  going  on  with  the  practice  of 
law,  and  at  the  same  time  he  w^as  helping  to  make  new 
laws,  for  he  was  elected  to  the  State  legislature  for  four 
successive  terms,  serving  continuously  for  eight  years — 
from  1834  to  1842. 


LAWYER   AND   CITIZEN   IN   SPRINGFIELD 


69 


As  a  legislator  he  was  active,  and  became  so  prominent 
that  the  Whigs  nominated  him  for  speaker,  but  they, 
being  in  the  minority,  could  not  elect  their  candidate. 
While  it  is  true  that  he  was  a  leader  in  his  party,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  such  economic  and  political  questions  as 
were  before  the 
people  at  that 
time  did  not  make 
a  strong  appeal 
to  his  nature.  It 
was  the  great 
moral  questions 
like  human  slav 
ery  that  were  of 
absorbing  interest 

"-A1  77»y/:|j;  Mfl 

to  him   and  that  v^^W'i  M 

called  into  action 
all  that  was  best 
in  him,  as  we  are 
to  see  later. 

Still  his  legis 
lative  experience  was  of  much  value  in  preparing  him  for 
the  great  work  of  his  later  career,  and  it  brought  to  public 
notice,  in  an  emphatic  way,  his  moral  courage  on  the 
slavery  question.  For  he  had  the  distinction  of  leading  a 
minority  of  two,  in  a  written  declaration  that  they,  he 
and  one  other,  believed  the  institution  of  slavery  was 


Where  Stuart  and  Lincoln  Had  Their  Law-Office 
in  1837. 


70  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

founded  on  both  injustice  and  bad  policy.  Having  a 
strong  conviction  that  slavery  was  an  evil,  he  was  quite 
willing  to  face  overwhelming  opposition  to  his  views,  no 
matter  what  might  be  the  effect  upon  his  own  political 
fortunes. 

In  1846  he  was  elected  to  represent  Illinois  in  the  na 
tional  Congress  at  Washington.  Here  he  was  the  same 
plain,  simple  man  that  he  had  always  been,  modest  in  dress, 
homely  in  speech,  and  sincere  in  manner.  It  was  his  habit 
when  getting  books  at  the  library  to  tie  them  up  in  a  ban 
danna  handkerchief.  Then,  slipping  his  cane  through  a 
knot  of  the  handkerchief,  he  would  sling  the  books  over 
his  shoulder  and,  quite  unmindful  of  the  smiles  of  those  he 
met,  he  quietly  went  his  way,  deeply  absorbed  in  his  own 
thoughts. 

His  first  story  in  the  lounging-room  of  the  House  at 
tracted  the  attention  of  all  who  heard  it,  and  in  a  short 
time  he  came  to  be  known  as  the  champion  story-teller  in 
Congress.  It  is  doubtful,  in  fact,  whether  Lincoln  ever  met 
his  match  in  quaint,  droll  humor  and  in  his  ability  to  tell 
effective  jokes,  stories,  and  anecdotes.  By  these  he  won 
the  favor  of  Daniel  Webster  to  such  an  extent  as  to  be 
more  than  once  a  guest  at  the  Saturday  morning  break 
fasts  given  by  the  great  orator  from  Massachusetts. 

Abraham  Lincoln  had  not  been  in  Congress  many  weeks 
before  he  introduced  what  are  known  as  his  "spot"  resolu 
tions,  which  became  a  stumbling-block  for  his  re-election. 


LAWYER  AND   CITIZEN  IN  SPRINGFIELD 


71 


In  so  doing  he  tried  to  show,  as  a  Whig,  that  the  Demo 
cratic  administration — James  K.  Polk  was  President — was 
wrong  in  declaring  that  the  Mexicans  brought  on  the  war 
with  Mexico  by  attacking  American  troops  on  American 


Lincoln  Telling  Stories  in  the  Lounging-Room  of  Congress. 

soil.  The  "spot"  where  the  first  blood  was  shed,  accord 
ing  to  Lincoln,  was  not  American  soil  but  disputed  terri 
tory,  which  was  claimed  by  Mexico.  Lincoln  insisted  that 
the  United  States  Government  was  unjust  in  going  into 
this  war.  But,  though  he  stoutly  held  to  this  position  as 
a  matter  of  principle,  yet  he  always  voted  with  the  ma- 


72  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

jority  when  it  was  a  question  of  granting  supplies  to  the 
army  fighting  our  battles  on  Mexican  territory. 

He  believed  that  the  war  had  been  brought  about  for 
the  purpose  of  increasing  slave  territory  in  the  United 
States,  and  this  he  bitterly  opposed.  So,  when  David 
Wilmot  introduced  a  bill  into  Congress  excluding  slavery 
from  all  territory  which  the  United  States  might  acquire 
as  a  result  of  the  war,  Lincoln  strongly  favored  it.  He  said 
afterward  that  he  voted  for  the  Wilmot  Proviso  some 
forty  times. 

Before  his  term  of  office  as  Congressman  came  to  an 
end  he  introduced  a  bill  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  District 
of  Columbia.  According  to  this  bill,  slavery  "was  to  be 
ended  in  the  national  capital  with  the  consent  of  the  voters 
and  with  compensation  to  slave-owners."  Although  this 
bill  failed,  because  it  was  in  advance  of  public  opinion,  it 
showed  Lincoln's  firm  resolution  to  do  all  he  could  to  re 
strict  the  institution  of  slavery  in  this  country. 


CHAPTER  V 
LIFE   AS   A    LAWYER   ON   THE   CIRCUIT 

AT  the  close  of  Lincoln's  term  in  Congress  (1849)  he 
determined  to  retire  from  politics  and  take  up  again  the 
practice  of  law. 

This  was  for  two  reasons.  The  first  was  that  the  posi 
tion  he  had  taken  in  regard  to  the  Mexican  War  had  made 
him  so  unpopular  that  he  knew  he  could  not  carry  the  next 
election  from  his  State,  even  if  he  should  wish  to  do  so. 
His  term  in  Congress  had  added  nothing  to  the  political 
favor  in  which  he  was  held.  Again  overtaken  by  depres 
sion,  he  even  questioned  his  fitness  for  political  life,  and  it 
seemed  to  him  more  than  likely  that  he  would  never  go 
into  politics  again.  The  second  reason  was  that  his  finan 
cial  outlook  was  by  no  means  promising.  The  debt  from 
his  storekeeping  experience  at  New  Salem  still  hung  heavy 
about  his  neck,  and  his  own  growing  family,  although  he 
lived  very  simply,  was  becoming  more  expensive.  In  ad 
dition  to  these  burdens,  his  father's  family  still  looked  to 
him  for  some  of  the  necessaries  and  about  all  of  the  com 
forts  of  life.  Whether  he  had  to  furnish  money  to  prevent 
the  foreclosure  of  a  mortgage  on  his  father's  farm,  or  to 
pay  doctors'  bills,  or  to  meet  other  expense,  his  father's 
family  was  always  more  or  less  of  a  drain  upon  his  purse. 

73 


74  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

We  must  bear  in  mind,  also,  that  Lincoln  was  not  by 
nature  a  money-maker.  His  income  from  his  law  prac 
tice  was  never  large,  not  more  than  three  thousand  dollars 
a  year.  It  might  easily  have  been  more,  but  his  fees  were 
small,  and  oftentimes  he  charged  nothing  for  his  services, 
especially  when  he  thought  the  client  too  poor  to  pay. 
Naturally,  his  brother  lawyers  objected  to  this  generous 
habit,  on  the  ground  that  Lincoln  thus  lowered  the  standard 
of  charges  for  legal  services;  but  his  love  of  fair  play  was 
stronger  than  his  sense  of  money  values. 

His  plainly  furnished  law-office  was  in  keeping  with  his 
character.  It  contained  a  chair,  a  lounge,  and  a  desk— 
not  that  he  needed  the  desk  to  write  upon,  for  more  fre 
quently  it  served  as  a  foot-rest,  while  he  supported  on  his 
knees  the  book  on  which  he  wrote.  Surroundings  did  not 
affect  him.  He  could  withdraw  his  mind  from  any  con 
fusion  about  him,  and  had  no  difficulty  in  marshalling  the 
facts  of  his  well-ordered  knowledge  just  when  he  wanted 
to  use  them.  He  kept  his  notes  and  memoranda  on  slips 
of  paper,  which  he  stowed  away  in  his  hat,  a  habit  formed 
in  the  earlier  days  when  he  was  postmaster  at  New  Salem. 

Although  Lincoln's  office  was  in  Springfield,  his  business 
took  him  over  a  wide  stretch  of  country,  for  in  those  days 
it  was  not  possible  in  the  West  for  lawyers  to  make  a  good 
living  in  any  one  place.  Their  practice  extended  over  what 
was  known  as  a  circuit;  that  is,  one  of  several  divisions  in  a 
State  set  apart  under  an  appointed  judge,  who  travelled 


LIFE  AS  A  LAWYER  ON  THE   CIRCUIT  75 

from  county-seat  to  county-seat.  The  judge  made  the 
circuit  twice  a  year,  and  with  him  travelled  some  of  the 
best-known  lawyers  of  the  district.  Lincoln's  circuit  was 
the  "Eighth  Judicial  Circuit."  It  was  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  long,  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  broad,  and 
contained  from  twelve  to  fifteen  counties. 

This  kind  of  law  practice  strongly  appealed  to  Lincoln, 
for  he  liked  travelling  from  county  to  county  in  company 
with  the  circuit  judge  and  the  other  lawyers  to  attend 
courts  when  they  were  in  session.  Alert-minded  and  always 
open  to  new  impressions,  he  felt  an  interest  in  the  people 
he  met,  and  in  everything  he  saw  on  the  highways,  in  the 
fields,  and  on  the  farms.  And  while  sometimes  he  would 
sit  silent  and  absorbed,  with  a  sad,  brooding  expression, 
most  of  the  time  he  was  the  life  and  joy  of  the  company, 
seeing  humor  and  entertainment  in  all  the  small,  homely 
incidents  on  the  way.  It  might  be  men  working  in  the 
field,  ducks  waddling  to  a  pond,  a  washing  flapping  in  the 
wind,  almost  anything  that  would  catch  his  fancy,  and 
keep  the  crowd  in  a  continuous  rollicking  mood  to  their 
journey's  end. 

An  incident  of  this  period,  told  by  a  brother  lawyer, 
reveals  his  care  and  tenderness  for  helpless  creatures.  He 
had  been  riding  one  day  with  a  group  of  fellow  lawyers 
when  he  was  missed  by  his  companions.  One  of  them, 
going  back  to  look  for  him,  found  that  he  had  stopped  to 
replace  two  young  birds  that  had  been  blown  out  of  their 


76  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

nest.  "I  couldn't  have  slept/'  he  said,  "if  I  had  not  re 
stored  them  to  their  mother." 

As  there  were  no  railroads  in  Illinois  until  1850,  travel 
was  generally  on  horseback;  but  sometimes  several  lawyers 
would  join  in  getting  a  three-seated  spring  wagon.  At 
first  Lincoln  rode  on  a  borrowed  horse,  but  later  he  bought 
one  for  himself,  which  he  called  "Old  Tom."  After  his  re 
turn  from  Washington,  he  added  to  his  turnout  an  old  open 
buggy.  The  pokey  horse,  the  rattletrap  buggy,  and  Lin 
coln  made  one  of  the  most  interesting  pictures  of  the  days 
of  circuit-riding. 

His  dress  was  often  wrinkled  and  rusty.  Sometimes 
he  wore  a  low-crowned  hat  and  sometimes  a  shaggy  beaver. 
For  a  long  time  his  coat  was  a  short  blue  one,  which  reached 
only  to  his  hips.  He  usually  carried  a  little  old  hand-bag, 
and  a  faded,  weather-beaten  umbrella  tied  with  a  string 
to  keep  it  from  flapping. 

Of  course,  Lincoln  did  not  appear  so  peculiar  amid  the 
pioneer  conditions  surrounding  him  as  he  would  have 
done  in  a  part  of  the  country  which  had  long  been  settled. 
The  dress  of  the  people  living  in  such  a  backwoods  region 
as  Illinois,  at  that  time,  was  distinctly  different  from  what 
could  be  found  in  a  long-settled  State,  Massachusetts,  for 
instance,  or  Virginia.  But  it  must  be  said  that  at  best 
Lincoln  was  always  indifferent  to  dress  and  careless  about 
clothes. 

There  were  few  roads  such  as  we  know  to-day,  and  no 


LIFE   AS   A   LAWYER   ON   THE   CIRCUIT 


i  t 


bridges  at  all.  The  streams  had  to  be  forded,  and  as 
Lincoln  was  tall  he  sometimes  rolled  up  his  trousers  and 
tested  the  depth  of  the  water  by  wading  across  to  the  other 
side.  Then  the  others  would  follow. 


Whenever  They  Stopped  for  Dinner  Lincoln  Was  the  Life  of  the  Company. 

Whenever  in  their  journey  ings  they  stopped  for  dinner 
at  a  farmhouse;  Lincoln  again  was  the  life  of  the  company. 
Everybody  along  the  circuit  liked  him,  because  of  his 
kindness  and  good  cheer. 

The  comfort  of  travelling  in  those  days  was  far  re 
moved  from  what  it  is  to-day,  and  Lincoln's  good  nature 


78  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

and  drollery  must  have  been  very  helpful  in  relieving  un 
pleasant  situations  for  his  brother  lawyers,  who  did  not 
hesitate  to  grumble  at  what  they  considered  hardships. 
The  taverns  at  the  county-seats  were  usually  two-story 
houses,  with  large  rooms  and  long  verandas.  The  judge 
and  the  lawyers  slept  two  in  a  bed,  with  three  or  four  beds 
in  a  room.  There  was  a  common  table  where  judge,  jury, 
lawyers,  prisoners,  peddlers,  and  all  ate  together,  the  upper 
end  of  the  table  being  reserved  for  the  judge  and  his  lawyers. 
But  Lincoln  was  as  likely  to  sit  at  one  end  as  the  other. 
At  the  tavern  he  met  with  a  hearty  welcome  from  all,  for 
he  was  the  best-known  and  the  best-loved  lawyer  on  the 
circuit.  At  every  county-seat  were  a  few  houses  of  pre 
tension,  where  formal  entertainments  were  given  during 
the  court  session.  At  these  functions  Lincoln  was  always 
an  appreciated  guest. 

But  the  place  most  to  his  liking  was  the  court-house. 
This  was  generally  a  small  square  building  of  red  brick, 
trimmed  with  white  and  surmounted  by  a  cupola.  In  the 
one  room  it  contained  the  judge  held  his  court,  the  lawyers 
pleaded  their  cases,  and  the  jury  listened  and  deliberated. 
The  cases  were  mostly  simple  ones  concerning  boundaries, 
deeds,  trespasses,  etc.  The  lawyers  and  their  clients  con 
sulted  in  little  groups  apart,  under  the  trees,  or  at  the  side 
of  the  building,  or  wherever  they  could  find  a  quiet  corner. 

Lincoln's  advice  was  always  to  settle,  if  possible,  with 
out  a  trial.  Lawyers,  he  thought,  should  work  for  peace; 


LIFE  AS  A  LAWYER  ON  THE   CIRCUIT  79 

even  then  there  would  be  plenty  of  cases  for  all.  So  we 
may  imagine  him  laboring  first  with  his  client,  before  he 
turns  the  force  of  his  clear,  plain  arguments  upon  the 
listening  judge  and  jury.  Here  is  what  he  says  to  a  young 
man  who  complains  about  his  guardian:  "I  know  Mr. 
Kingsbury,  and  he  is  not  the  man  to  have  cheated  you  out 
of  a  cent,  and  I  can't  take  the  case,  and  I  advise  you  to 
drop  it." 

Lincoln  was  an  especial  favorite  with  Judge  David 
Davis,  a  man  of  force  and  much  learning,  who  for  many 
years  presided  over  the  courts  in  the  Eighth  Circuit  while 
Lincoln  practised  there.  Unless  he  was  present  in  the 
company  which  gathered  in  the  judge's  room  after  supper, 
his  Honor  seemed  to  be  dissatisfied.  He  would  constantly 
interrupt  the  conversation  with  such  impatient  questions 
as  "  Where's  Lincoln  ?  Why  doesn't  Lincoln  come  ?"  And 
when  the  genial,  good-natured  Lincoln  did  appear  and  be 
gin  to  tell  the  stories  which  delighted  all  the  listeners,  the 
judge  rebuked  any  man  who  dared  to  interrupt,  with  the 
stern  remark:  "Mr.  Lincoln  is  talking." 

Although  while  out  of  court  the  judge  was  somewhat 
indifferent  to  formality,  he  was  very  insistent  when  in  the 
court-room  upon  good  order  and  serious  attention  to  the 
work  in  hand.  When  Lincoln  was  not  busy  he  was  often 
whispering  stories  to  his  neighbors.  This  sometimes  an 
noyed  Judge  Davis,  who  would  then  call  him  to  order. 

"I  was  never  fined  but  once  for  contempt  of  court/' 


80  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

said  a  clerk  at  one  of  the  county-seats  in  Lincoln's  day. 
"  Judge  Davis  fined  me  five  dollars.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  just 
come  in,  and  leaning  over  my  desk,  he  told  me  a  story  so 
irresistibly  funny  that  I  broke  out  into  a  loud  laugh.  The 
judge  called  me  to  order  in  haste,  saying:  'This  must  be 
stopped.  Mr.  Lincoln,  you  are  constantly  disturbing  this 
court  with  your  stories.'  Then  to  me :  '  You  may  fine  your 
self  five  dollars  for  your  disturbance.'  I  apologized,  but 
told  the  judge  that  the  story  was  worth  the  money.  In  a 
few  minutes  the  judge  called  me  to  him.  'What  was  the 
story  Lincoln  told  you?'  he  asked.  I  told  him  and  he 
laughed  aloud  in  spite  of  himself.  'Remit  your  fine,'  he 
ordered." 

As  a  lawyer  Lincoln  had  great  power  over  a  jury,  but 
this  was  not  through  any  attempt  at  oratory.  His  method 
was  to  get  at  the  heart  of  the  matter,  to  present  it  plainly 
and  simply  so  that  it  could  be  clearly  understood.  He  had 
a  good  knowledge  of  law,  but  it  was  his  instinct  for  right 
and  justice  that  enabled  him  to  strip  away  unnecessary 
detail,  and  present  his  case  in  a  practical  way  to  the  jury. 
For  this  purpose  he  made  free  use  of  stories — not  to  amuse 
his  juries,  as  some  have  supposed,  but  to  make  them  see 
the  case  clearly  and  to  avoid  long  arguments.  One  of  the 
lawyers  who  knew  him  said:  "In  making  a  speech  Mr. 
Lincoln  was  the  plainest  man  I  ever  heard.  He  was  not  a 
speaker  but  a  talker.  He  talked  to  jurors  and  to  political 
gatherings  plain,  sensible,  candid  talk,  almost  as  in  con- 


LIFE   AS  A  LAWYER  OX  THE   CIRCUIT  81 

versation,  making  no  effort  whatever  at  oratory.  But  his 
talk  had  wonderful  effect.  Honesty,  candor,  fairness,  every 
thing  that  was  convincing,  was  in  his  manner  and  expres 
sion." 

Lincoln  could  not  take  the  side  which  he  believed  was 
wrong.  In  order  to  convince  others,  he  must  himself  be 
lieve  that  his  cause  was  right  and  just.  It  was  simply  im 
possible  for  him  to  argue  against  his  convictions.  To  do 
so  he  believed  would  be  dishonest,  and  he  could  no  more 
be  dishonest  in  this  way  than  he  could  steal.  It  happened 
once  that,  during  the  course  of  a  case  he  was  trying,  he  be 
came  sure  of  his  client's  guilt.  Suddenly  he  turned  to  his 
associate  and  whispered:  "Swift,  the  man  is  guilty.  You 
defend  him;  I  cannot."  And  immediately  he  gave  up  his 
share  of  the  fee,  which  was  large  enough  to  mean  a  great 
deal  to  him.  At  another  time,  while  he  was  defending  a 
man  on  trial,  he  turned  to  his  associate  with  the  remark: 
"If  you  can  say  anything  for  the  man,  do  it.  I  cannot. 
If  I  attempt  it,  the  jury  will  see  I  think  he  is  guilty  and 
convict  him."  He  then  gave  up  the  case. 

The  informal  ways  of  the  court  and  the  familiar  footing 
of  Lincoln  with  his  juries  is  well  illustrated  by  the  Arm 
strong  case.  In  the  course  of  his  law  practice  he  was  sent 
for  by  Jack  Armstrong's  widow,  who  asked  him  to  defend 
her  son,  who  was  charged  with  murder.  You  will  remem 
ber  the  Jack  Armstrong  with  whom  he  had  the  wrestling- 
match  at  New  Salem  and  who  had  become  his  lifelong  friend. 


82 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


When  Jack  Armstrong's  widow  asked  him  to  take  the 
case,  he  cheerfully  complied,  insisting  'that  he  would  charge 
nothing  for  his  services. 

The  principal  witness  against  young  Armstrong  declared 
that  he  saw  the  prisoner  strike  the  blow  which  caused  the 
death  of  the  murdered  man.  Lincoln  asked:  "When  did 

you  see  the  blow 
struck?" 

The    witness 
answered:    "It 
was  about  ten 
o'clock  at  night." 
"How   could 
you   see  plainly 
at   that   hour?" 
asked  Lincoln. 
"Why,"  was 

Court-House  at  Beardstown,  in  Which  the  Armstrong        the  anSWCr,      the 
Case  Was  Tried. 

moon  was  full 

and  was  shining  so  brightly  that  it  was  as  high  as  the  sun 
is  about  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning." 

Lincoln  then  turned  to  an  almanac  and  showed  that  at 
ten  o'clock  on  the  night  named  the  moon  was  in  its  last 
quarter,  and  was  almost  setting.  This  unexpected  turn  in 
the  case  of  course  set  at  naught  the  value  of  the  witness's 
testimony,  and  produced  a  great  effect  upon  the  feeling  of 
the  jury  and  the  people  in  the  court-room. 


LIFE   AS  A  LAWYER  ON  THE   CIRCUIT  83 

In  addressing  the  jury  Lincoln  said  that  it  was  a  plea 
sure  to  him  to  give  his  services  to  help  clear  from  a  false 
charge  the  son  of  his  old  friend.  He  then  told  of  the  days 
when,  homeless  and  almost  friendless,  he  used  to  go  to  the 
log  cabin  of  the  Armstrongs,  where  he  found  food  and 
shelter,  and  where  his  worn  clothing  was  mended  by  the 
kindly  mother  of  the  prisoner.  Lincoln  made  such  a  pa 
thetic  appeal  that  the  tears  rolled  down  the  cheeks  of  the 
jurors,  some  of  whom  had  known  him  in  those  days;  and 
every  man,  when  the  jury  filed  back  into  the  court-room, 
returned  a  verdict  of  "Not  Guilty." 

Lincoln's  law  cases  were  not  limited  to  those  in  the 
circuit  courts.  He  argued  many,  and  some  were  very  im 
portant  ones,  in  the  supreme  court  of  Illinois,  showing 
that  he  was  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  of  the  State.  In  one 
of  these  cases  Lincoln  was  counsel  for  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad — a  railroad  of  which  George  B.  McClellan  later 
became  vice-president.  His  high  standing  was  recognized 
by  his  being  engaged  as  associate  counsel  in  a  famous  pat 
ent  case  in  1855  in  Cincinnati.  His  client,  the  manufac 
turer  of  the  McCormick  reaper,  had  four  hundred  thousand 
dollars  at  stake. 

When,  however,  he  found  that  the  opposing  counsel  was 
an  eminent  lawyer  from  the  East,  he  lost  confidence  in 
Lincoln,  the  country  lawyer,  whom  he  had  engaged  on  an 
other's  recommendation,  and  called  in  Edwin  M.  Stanton, 
of  Ohio,  to  assist.  Stanton  paid  little  attention  to  the 


84  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

awkward^  raw-boned  man  from  the  backwoods,  as  he  ap 
peared  to  him,  and  evidently  looked  upon  Lincoln  as  in 
ferior.  He  was  heard  to  say  in  a  scornful  tone:  "Where 
did  that  long-armed  creature  come  from,  and  what  can 
he  expect  from  this  case?"  So,  almost  ignoring  Lincoln, 
Stanton  took  upon  himself  the  burden  of  making  the 
spee€h  to  the  jury,  and  thus  without  Lincoln's  assistance 
won  the  case.  This  was  a  keen  disappointment  to  Lincoln 
and  his  friends,  for  they  had  hoped  that  he  would  have 
an  opportunity  to  win  distinction.  But  there  came  a 
time,  as  we  shall  learn  later,  when  this  same  Edwin  M. 
Stanton  learned  to  respect  and  admire  the  true  Lincoln 
and  to  follow  his  leadership. 

Lincoln's  term  in  Congress,  although  it  interrupted  his 
law  practice,  proved  a  great  benefit,  for  it  inspired  him  with 
a  renewed  zest  to  increase  his  knowledge.  His  experiences 
in  Washington  had  given  the  opportunity  to  study  the  lead 
ers  in  Congress,  and  he  keenly  realized  that  the  training  of 
these  men  was  very  much  better  than  his  own.  In  their 
public  speaking  they  had  shown  a  power  of  close  and  sus 
tained  reasoning  which  he  could  not  command  but  was 
ambitious  to  acquire.  So  when  he  gave  up  political  life 
and  returned  to  the  practice  of  law,  he  had  resolved  to 
apply  himself  to  make  good,  if  possible,  the  deficiency  of 
his  early  training,  and  thus  be  able  to  meet  these  well- 
trained  lawyers  on  equal  terms.  Books  and  study  once 
more  became  a  passion  with  him. 


Lincoln  in  1860. 

From  an  ambrotype  taken  in  Springfield,  III.,  in  the  collection  of  William 
H.  Lambert,  of  Philadelphia. 


86  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Mathematics,  astronomy ,  and  poetry  were  the  subjects 
he  now  took  up.  He  even  joined  a  class  of  young  men  who 
were  learning  German,  inviting  them  to  meet  in  his  office. 
With  the  same  care  and  thoroughness  that  he  had  devoted 
to  English  grammar  years  before,  he  now  studied  geometry, 
learning  six  books  of  Euclid  by  heart. 

This  close  application  to  books  made  it  impossible  to 
spend  so  much  time  with  his  brother  lawyers  as  he  formerly 
had  done.  Now,  after  he  had  told  a  story,  he  would  often 
slip  away  while  the  listeners  were  laughing  at  the  climax. 
At  night,  when  "riding  the  circuit,"  it  became  his  habit 
to  read,  sometimes  until  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  by  the 
light  of  a  candle  standing  on  a  chair  near  the  head  of  his 
bed.  But  notwithstanding  the  late  hour  when  he  went  to 
sleep,  he  was  usually  up  before  any  of  the  others,  and  when 
they  opened  their  eyes  they  would  see  him  sitting  before 
the  fire  with  the  coals  uncovered,  musing  and  pondering. 

A  very  agreeable  and  charming  side  of  Lincoln's  person 
ality  is  seen  in  his  home  life  daring  this  period.  While 
careless  of  conventions,  he  was  by  no  means  negligent  of 
the  virtues  for  which  they  stood.  As  a  home-maker  he 
bore  his  part  in  the  responsibilities  of  the  family  life,  and 
was  especially  delightful  as  a  host.  It  was  a  pleasure 
among  the  Lincolns'  friends  to  be  bidden  to  their  home, 
for  Mrs.  Lincoln  was  an  efficient  hostess,  always  providing 
an  abundant  table  with  delicious  Southern  cooking,  and 
was  tactful  in  putting  her  guests  at  ease,  while  Mr.  Lincoln 


LIFE  AS  A  LAWYER  ON  THE  CIRCUIT  87 

with  his  cordial  welcome  afforded  rich  entertainment  by  his 
store  of  anecdotes  and  his  unrivalled  conversation. 

As  a  father  he  was  most  affectionate  and  lenient.  His 
three  boys— Robert,  born  in  1843,  Willie  in  1849,  and  Tad 
(Thomas)  in  1853 — regarded  their  father  as  their  best  play 
fellow.  He  rarely  went  down-town  from  his  home  in  Spring 
field  without  the  two  younger  boys,  carrying  one  perhaps 
on  his  back,  while  the  other  clung  to  his  hand. 

On  one  occasion  a  neighbor  was  called  to  his  door  by 
the  cries  of  two  boys.  Looking  out,  he  saw  Mr.  Lincoln 
striding  by  with  a  boy  on  either  side  of  him,  each  one 
crying  at  the  top  of  his  voice. 

"Why,  Air.  Lincoln,  what's  the  matter  with  the  boys?" 
his  neighbor  asked. 

"Just  what's  the  matter  with  the  whole  world/'  he 
answered.  "I've  got  three  walnuts  and  each  wants  two." 

His  sense  of  humor  was  always  keen,  and  stood  out  in 
striking  contrast  with  the  melancholy  which  often  dom 
inated  his  thoughts  and  feelings  for  hours  or  even  days  at 
a  time. 

Thus  we  see  that  up  to  1854,  Lincoln  lived  a  simple, 
natural,  industrious  life,  not  unlike  that  of  many  another 
ambitious  young  man  born  in  a  log  cabin  on  the  Western 
frontier.  Yet,  in  the  light  of  later  events,  it  is  clear  that 
unconsciously  he  was  preparing  for  the  large  responsibilities 
awaiting  him,  and  that  always  under  the  surface  of  his  life 
an  eternal  purpose  seemed  to  be  working  its  way. 


88  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

The  qualities  of  heart  which  were  his  in  so  generous 
measure — honesty,  charity,  and  sympathy  for  the  suffer 
ing — were  the  qualities  peculiarly  needed  for  the  great  mis 
sion  to  which  he  was  called.  Through  his  experience  as  a 
lawyer,  also,  he  was  gaining  a  knowledge  of  men,  and  was 
developing  the  habits  of  clear  thinking  and  just  reasoning 
which  were  soon  to  be  applied  to  a  great  issue  involving  the 
nation.  That  issue  we  are  now  to  take  up. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE   LINCOLN-DOUGLAS   DEBATES 

You  will  remember  that  when  Lincoln  returned  to  his 
home  in  Springfield  after  his  term  in  Congress  was  over,  he 
determined  to  give  up  politics  and  devote  his  entire  energy 
to  the  study  of  law.  At  that  time  he  believed  that  he 
would  never  enter  the  political  field  again,  but  only  five 
years  passed  before  a  public  event  so  aroused  him  that 
he  changed  his  mind.  This  was  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri 
Compromise  in  1854.  It  took  such  a  hold  upon  his  feelings 
that  he  could  scarcely  talk  about  anything  else. 

We  shall  better  understand  why  he  was  so  disturbed 
over  this  repeal  if  we  briefly  review  the  slavery  troubles 
that  were  straining  the  relations  between  the  North  and 
the  South. 

Before  the  purchase  of  the  Louisiana  territory,— which, 
as  you  know,  meant  nearly  everything  west  of  the  Mis 
sissippi,  from  Arkansas  to  Canada  and  west  to  Utah  and 
Idaho — all  the  States  north  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line 
and  the  Ohio  River  were  free  States,  while  the  other  States, 
those  south  of  that  line,  were  slave  States.  This  was  not 
according  to  any  law  of  the  nation,  but  on  account  of  the 
nature  of  the  soil  and  climate.  With  the  purchase  of 


90  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Louisiana,  however,  many  new  States  would,  in  time,  be 
added  to  the  Union,  and  the  question  of  how  many  should 
be  slave  and  how  many  should  be  free  had  to  be  settled, 
because  the  vast  new  profits  from  raising  cotton  had  made 
the  South  eager  to  extend  slave  territory  and  the  feeling 
against  slavery  was  growing  strong  in  the  North.  This 
question  the  Missouri  Compromise  was  supposed  to  de 
cide.  It  provided  that  Missouri  should  come  into  the 
Union  as  a  slave  State  but  that  all  the  remaining  territory 
in  the  Louisiana  Purchase  which  lay  west  and  north  of 
Missouri  should  be  forever  free. 

There  was  no  further  serious  trouble  over  slavery  in 
new  States  until  the  end  of  the  Mexican  War.  Then,  by 
the  Compromise  of  1850,  it  was  provided  that  California 
should  come  into  the  Union  as  a  free  State,  and  that  in  all 
the  rest  of  the  territory  acquired  from  Mexico — that  is, 
in  what  were  then  the  territories  of  Utah  and  New  Mexico 
—the  people  should  decide  for  themselves  whether  or  not 
they  would  have  slavery. 

Of  course,  in  a  compromise — a  sort  of  half-way  meeting 
—neither  side  gets  everything  it  wishes.  Each  has  to  give 
up  something  to  the  other.  Yet,  when  the  Compromise  of 
1850  was  agreed  upon,  both  Northern  and  Southern  political 
leaders  honestly  believed  that  the  slavery  controversy  was 
settled  for  all  time.  But  it  was  not.  In  1854,  under  the 
able  leadership  of  Senator  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  of  Illinois, 
another  bill,  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  was  passed.  This 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES  91 

provided  that  in  the  territory  lying  north  and  west  of  Mis 
souri — that  territory  in  the  Louisiana  Purchase  which  by 
the  Missouri  Compromise  was  made  forever  free — the  peo 
ple  should  decide  for 
themselves  whether  or 
not  they  would  have 
slavery.  This  bill 
thrust  aside,  or  re 
pealed,  the  Missouri 
Compromise  and  put 
in  its  place  "the  right 
of  popular  sover 
eignty/'  as  Douglas 
called  it. 

This  disregard  of 
the  Missouri  Compro 
mise  aroused  Lincoln 
as  perhaps  nothing 
had  ever  aroused  him 
before.  It  was  a  great 

Stephen  A.  Douglas. 

wrong,  he  believed, 

and  the  thought  haunted  him  day  and  night.  It  seemed  to 
take  complete  possession  of  him.  All  his  life  he  had  be 
lieved  that  slavery  was  wrong,  because  he  believed  no 
man  had  a  right  to  own  another.  Yet  he  had  no  idea  of 
interfering  with  slavery  in  the  States  that  already  had  it; 
for  in  all  those  States  any  man  had  just  as  firm  a  legal 


92  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

right;  according  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
to  own  slaves  as  he  had  to  own  houses  and  land,  or  any 
other  kind  of  property. 

But  Lincoln  was  strongly,  even  bitterly,  opposed  to  the 
extension  of  slavery  into  new  States.  Moreover,  quite 
apart  from  the  human  injustice  and  wrong  of  slavery,  was 
the  violation  of  his  sense  of  the  uprightness  of  law;  for 
he  regarded  slavery  compromises  like  the  Missouri  Com 
promise  just  as  morally  binding  as  the  Constitution  itself, 
and  considered  that,  in  thrusting  it  aside,  the  framers  of 
the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill  were  breaking  the  law  of  the 
nation.  He  therefore  determined  to  use  all  the  powers  of 
his  being  to  get  the  law  restored,  and  to  prevent  Kansas 
from  coming  into  the  Union  as  a  slave  State. 

So  it  was  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Bill,  repealing  the  Mis 
souri  Compromise,  that  called  Abraham  Lincoln  back  into 
politics  and  summoned  him  to  take  up  his  great  life  mis 
sion,  which  involved  a  resolute  and  unwavering  opposition 
to  the  extension  of  slavery.  It  was  as  if  a  higher  power 
said  to  him:  "This  is  your  work.  Do  it,  no  matter  what 
may  be  the  cost  to  you  in  time,  strength,  or  political  ad 
vancement." 

Opposition  to  the  extension  of  slavery  was  the  one 
fundamental  issue  upon  which  the  Republican  party  was 
built.  Lincoln  was  so  strongly  in  sympathy  with  this 
doctrine  that,  although  up  to  this  time  he  had  been  a 
Whig,  he  joined  the  Republican  party  when  in  1856  it  was 


THE   LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES  93 

organized  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  at  a  convention  held  in 
Bloomington. 

After  this  convention  had  adopted  a  platform,  elected 
delegates  to  the  Republican  National  Convention,  and 
nominated  State  officers,  it  called  upon  certain  men  present 
for  speeches.  None  of  them  seemed  to  make  much  im 
pression.  But  finally  the  audience  shouted,  "Lincoln! 
Lincoln  !"  again  and  again.  Slowly  his  tall  form  rose  in  the 
back  part  of  the  room,  and  moved  forward  to  the  platform. 
His  countenance  seemed  to  be  burdened  by  a  great  weight. 
It  was  plain  that  he  thought  of  this  as  a  crisis  in  his  life, 
a  great  opportunity.  It  was  the  moment  when  he  was 
about  to  announce  himself  as  no  longer  a  Whig  but  from 
that  time  on  a  Republican. 

As  he  turned  to  look  at  his  eager  listeners  his  face 
changed,  a  great  passion  laid  hold  upon  him,  and  he  seemed 
to  growr  in  stature.  At  first  he  talked  slowly,  even  halt 
ingly;  but  in  a  little  while,  when  deep  emotion  swayed  him, 
he  spoke  with  greater  force.  His  eyes  blazed  with  excite 
ment,  his  face  became  pale,  and  his  voice  was  vibrant  with 
deep  feeling.  As  he  grew  more  and  more  intense  his  audi 
tors  started  from  their  seats  with  white  faces  and  quiver 
ing  lips,  moving  toward  the  speaker.  Men  and  women 
cheered  and  cried  at  the  same  time.  In  a  little  while  all 
present  seemed  to  feel  and  think  and  will  as  one  man,  and 
Lincoln  had  made  them  Republicans  not  only  in  name  but 
also  in  spirit. 


94  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

"The  conclusion  of  all  is,"  said  Lincoln,  in  his  closing 
words,  "that  we  must  restore  the  Missouri  Compromise. 
We  must  highly  resolve  that  Kansas  must  be  free!" 

"The  greatest  speech  ever  made  in  Illinois,  and  it 
puts  Lincoln  on  the  track  for  the  presidency/7  was  the 
comment  made  by  many  enthusiastic  Republicans  present. 

Many  newspaper  men  who  came  to  make  reports  of  the 
speeches  were  held  so  spellbound  that  they  put  their  pens 
and  pencils  aside.  "I  attended  for  about  fifteen  minutes/' 
says  Mr.  Herndon,  Lincoln's  law  partner,  "as  it  was  usual 
with  me  then  to  make  notes,  but  at  the  end  of  that  time  I 
threw  pen  and  paper  away  and  lived  only  in  the  inspiration 
of  the  hour." 

It  required  courage  Tor  Abraham  Lincoln  to  make  this 
speech,  for  in  doing  so  he  was  not  only  defending  an  un 
popular  cause,  but  he  was  giving  up  his  place  in  an  old  and 
well-grounded  political  party  to  join  a  new  and  unpopular 
one.  Yet  it  set  him  apart  as  the  right  man  for  leadership 
of  the  Republican  party  in  Illinois,  for  it  gave  unmistakable 
evidence  of  his  fearless  spirit  and  of  his  stubborn  resolve 
'  to  fight  to  the  bitter  end  in  the  cause  of  righteousness,  jus 
tice,  and  humanity.  He  believed  in  his  cause,  and  he  be 
lieved  in  God;  so  he  took  up  the  fight. 

Men  soon  began  to  follow  him  with  admiration  and 
enthusiasm.  Day  by  day,  slowly  but  steadily,  he  won 
others  to  his  way  of  thinking  until,  two  years  after  his 
eloquent  speech  before  the  Bloomington  convention,  he 


THE  LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES  95 

had  become  so  influential  in  his  party  that  his  nomination 
for  the  United  States  Senate  in  the  approaching  Republican 
convention  of  the  State  of  Illinois  seemed  to  be  a  certainty. 
As  the  day  drew  near  for  this  convention  to  meet  (June 
16,  1858),  Lincoln  was  observed  from  time  to  time  to  make 
notes  on  such  scraps  of  papers  and  old  envelopes  as  hap 
pened  to  be  convenient,  and  to  put  them  in  the  crown  of 
his  hat.  He  sought  no  one's  advice,  nor  confided  in  any 
one,  until  the  day  before  the  convention;  when,  having 
his  speech  well  thought  out,  he  took  it  to  a  number  of  his 
friends.  The  part  of  it  which  was  likely  to  receive  most 
criticism  was  as  follows: 

"A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot  stand.  I  be 
lieve  this  government  cannot  endure  permanently  half 
slave  and  half  free.  I  do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dis 
solved — I  do  not  expect  the  house  to  fall — but  I  do  expect 
it  will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will  become  all  one  thing  or 
all  the  other.  Either  the  opponents  of  slavery  will  arrest 
the  further  spread  of  it,  and  place  it  where  the  public  mind 
can  rest  in  the  belief  that  it  is  in  the  course  of  ultimate  ex 
tinction;  or  its  advocates  will  push  it  forward  until  it  shall 
become  alike  lawful  in  all  States,  old  as  well  as  new,  North 
as  well  as  South." 

When  he  read  these  words  to  his  friends,  only  one  of 
them,  Herndon  his  partner,  approved.  Herndon  said: 
"  Lincoln,  deliver  that  speech  as  read  and  it  will  make  you 
President."  All  the  others  strongly  denounced  it  as  un- 


96  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

wise,  foolish,  and  inviting  disaster.  But  Lincoln  said: 
"  Friends,  this  thing  has  been  retarded  long  enough.  The 
time  has  come  when  these  sentiments  should  be  uttered; 
and  if  it  is  decreed  that  I  should  go  down  because  of  this 
speech,  then  let  me  go  down  linked  with  the  truth.  Let 
me  die  in  the  advocacy  of  what  is  just  and  right." 

The  next  day  he  made  the  speech  without  the  change  of 
a  single  word,  and  to  one  critic  he  said  later:  "If  I  had  to 
draw  a  pen  across  my  record  and  erase  my  whole  life  from 
sight,  but  had  one  poor  gift  or  choice  left  as  to  what  I  should 
save  from  the  wreck,  I  should  choose  that  speech  and  leave 
it  to  the  world  unerased." 

Douglas  in  his  public  speeches  made  a  strong  point  of 
the  house-divided-against-itself  part  of  Lincoln's  speech. 
He  said:  "It  is  sectional,  and  it  proves  that  Lincoln  is  an 
Abolitionist."  This  was  giving  a  wrong  impression,  for 
Abolitionists  believed  in  doing  away  with  slavery  in  all  the 
States,  and  that  was  quite  a  different  matter  from  what 
Lincoln  was  trying  to  have  done,  which  was  to  restrict  it 
to  the  States  in  which  it  already  existed. 

Douglas  kept  criticising  Lincoln's  position  without 
directly  meeting  his  arguments,  until  at  the  end  of  a  month 
Lincoln  resolved  to  make  him  face  the  issue  squarely.  So 
he  challenged  the  senator  to  a  series  of  debates.  Douglas 
accepted  the  challenge,  and  it  was  arranged  to  hold  seven 
joint  debates  in  various  parts  of  the  State. 

The  two  debaters  were  very  different  in  appearance  and 


THE   LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES  97 

training  and,  to  the  minds  of  most  people,  quite  unequal, 
Douglas  appearing  to  be  much  the  superior  of  the  two. 
Although  he  was  then  only  forty-five  years  old,  he  was  the 
most  brilliant  leader  in  the  Democratic  party.  His  rise  in 
the  political  world  had  caught  public  attention.  When  only 
twenty-eight  he  had  filled  a  place  on  the  bench  of  the  State 
supreme  court.  At  thirty-one  he  had  been  a  member  of 
Congress,  and  for  eleven  years  he  had  been  in  the  United 
States  Senate,  where  he  held  a  place  of  national  prominence. 
After  the  deaths  of  Henry  Clay,  Daniel  Webster,  and  John 
C.  Calhoun,  he  was  the  member  most  powerful  in  debate 
and  had  been  at  least  a  match  for  the  three  most  distin 
guished  senators — Charles  Sumner,  William  H.  Seward,  and 
Salmon  P.  Chase.  He  was  short  in  stature,  hardly  five 
feet  four  inches  tall;  but  his  broad  shoulders,  his  massive 
and  majestic  head,  and  his  deep  and  powerful  voice  helped 
to  make  him  a  most  impressive  speaker.  Besides,  he  was 
not  only  well-dressed  and  prosperous-looking,  but  he  ap 
peared  to  be  perfectly  at  home  on  the  public  platform, 
where  his  personal  magnetism  and  unusual  gifts  of  oratory 
gave  him  great  power  over  his  audience. 

Lincoln's  position  in  contrast  was  almost  pathetic.  To 
be  sure,  he  had  served  eight  years  in  the  State  legislature 
and  one  term  in  Congress,  but  at  the  end  of  this  term  his 
record  had  been  accounted  so  nearly  a  failure  that,  as  already 
noted,  he  had  retired  from  public  life.  Even  now,  at  the 
age  of  forty-nine,  he  was  a  country  lawyer  with  no  follow- 


98  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

ing  outside  of  his  own  State.  His  greatest  source  of  strength 
was  the  truth  which  he  wished  to  present,  and  this  of  course 
did  not  appear  at  the  outset.  So,  as  he  rose  before  an 
audience,  they  saw  only  a  tall,  gaunt  figure  towering  six 
feet  four  inches  in  height,  clothed  in  garments  that  hung 
loosely  upon  his  ill-jointed  frame.  When  he  began  to 
speak,  his  shoulders  drooped  as  if  he  were  weak  and  un 
certain  of  himself.  His  high  tenor  voice  in  moments  of 
excitement  was  shrill  and  piercing.  But  there  was  in  his 
sad  face  a  sincerity,  in  his  manner  a  modesty,  and  in  his 
words  a  simplicity,  which  spoke  directly  to  the  heart  and 
gave  a  convincing  quality  to  his  words.  Moreover,  when 
swayed  by  deep  emotion  his  voice  became  soft  and  musical, 
and  people  listened  to  him  with  breathless  interest. 

Lincoln  realized  quite  as  completely  as  any  one  could 
the  striking  contrast  between  himself  and  his  powerful  op 
ponent.  "With  me,"  he  said  in  melancholy  tones,  when 
he  was  comparing  his  own  career  with  that  of  Douglas, 
"the  race  of  ambition  has  been  a  failure — a  flat  failure. 
With  him  it  has  been  one-  of  splendid  success."  But,  not 
withstanding  this  feeling,  he  entered  upon  the  great  con 
test  with  unflinching  courage,  with  the  assurance  that, 
however  weak  he  might  be  in  himself,  his  purpose  was 
upright  and  his  cause  was  just. 

Immense  crowds  swarmed  to  these  meetings.  Men, 
women,  and  children  came  from  long  distances,  in  wagons, 
in  carriages,  on  horseback,  and  afoot.  Many  brought  food, 


Lincoln  in  1860. 
From  a  photograph  by  Hesler,  copyright  by  George  B.  Ayres. 


100  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

and  some  brought  bedding  also.  At  night  they  encamped 
in  the  fields  and  groves  surrounding  the  town  where  the 
meeting  was  held,  till  the  camp-fires  suggested  the  gathering 
of  an  army. 

Before  the  second  debate,  Lincoln  called  some  of  his 
political  friends  together  and  asked  their  advice  about 
some  questions  which  he  thought  of  putting  to  Douglas. 
One  of  these  was  as  follows: 

"Can  the  people  of  a  United  States  Territory,  in  any 
lawful  way,  exclude  slavery  from  its  limits  prior  to  the 
formation  of  a  State  constitution?" 

This  was  a  trying  question,  for  if  Douglas  answered 
"No"  the  North  would  not  like  it;  if  he  said  "Yes"  the 
South  would  be  displeased. 

Most  of  Lincoln's  friends  advised  him  not  to  ask  the 
question.  They  said:  "If  you  do,  you  will  make  a  serious 
mistake.  If  Douglas  says  'Yes'  you  will  lose  the  senator- 
ship." 

Lincoln,  with  great  confidence,  responded:  "I  am  after 
larger  game;  if  Douglas  answers  this  question  in  such  a 
way  as  to  win  the  senatorship,  he  will  lose  the  presidency 
in  I860,  and  that  battle  is  worth  a  hundred  of  this." 

The  next  day  Lincoln's  friends  noted  that  he  mounted 
the  platform  with  a  firmer  step  and  a  more  confident  man 
ner  than  he  had  done  at  the  time  of  the  first  debate.  More 
over,  he  asked  the  question  just  as  he  had  presented  it  to 
them  in  the  first  place.  Douglas's  answer  was:  "The  peo- 


THE   LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES  101 

pie  of  a  Territory  can,  by  unfriendly  legislation,,  exclude 
slavery  from  a  Territory  before  the  formation '  of  a"  State 
constitution."  This  answer  reassured  the  North  and  helped 
Douglas  to  win  the  senatorship.  But  when  the  knowledge 
of  it  reached  the  people  of  the  South,  they  were  indignant. 
They  declared  that  Douglas  had  betrayed  them  and  that 
he  had  repudiated  the  Dred  Scott  Decision. 

The  Dred  Scott  Decision,  as  you  should  know,  had 
been  given  out  in  1857  by  the  Supreme  Court.  It  declared 
that  a  negro  was  not  a  citizen,  and  that  slave-owners  had 
a  right  to  take  their  slaves  into  a  Territory  and  hold  them 
there  as  slaves  just  as  they  had  to  hold  them  in  a  slave 
State.  In  other  words,  masters  might  take  their  slaves  to 
any  part  of  the  Union  just  as  they  or  anybody  else  might 
take  cattle,  horses,  or  any  other  kind  of  personal  property. 

Lincoln  showed  the  contradictory  nature  of  Douglas's 
position  on  the  use  of  unfriendly  legislation  to  shut  slavery 
out  of  a  Territory,  where,  by  the  Dred  Scott  Decision,  it 
had  a  right  to  be,  in  the  following  words: 

"The  judge  holds  that  a  thing  may  be  lawfully  driven 
away  from  a  place  where  it  has  a  lawful  right  to  be." 

At  the  last  of  the  debates  Lincoln  uttered,  in  closing, 
these  impressive  words:  "Is  slavery  wrong?  That  is  the 
real  issue.  That  is  the  issue  that  will  continue  in  this 
country  when  these  poor  tongues  of  Judge  Douglas  and  my 
self  shall  be  silent.  It  is  the  eternal  struggle  between  these 
two  principles — right  and  wrong — throughout  the  world." 


102  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

While  these  debates  were  going  on  both  Lincoln  and 
Douglas  had  to  endure  considerable  hardship  in  their  long 
journeyings.  But  Douglas's  movements  were  something 
like  a  triumphal  procession.  Much  of  the  time  he  travelled 
in  the  luxurious  private  car  of  George  B.  McClellan,  vice- 
president  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company,  for 
this  company — the  real  terminus  of  the  railroad  being  at 
New  Orleans  and  much  of  its  business  coming  from  the 
South — was  opposed  to  the  Republican  party.  A  brass 
band  travelled  with  him,  and  attached  to  his  car  was  a 
platform  which  carried  a  cannon.  On  the  arrival  of 
Douglas's  train  in  a  town  where  a  debate  was  to  be  held, 
there  was  fired  a  salute  of  thirty-two  guns,  one  for  each  of  the 
thirty-two  States.  Then,  riding  in  a  handsome  equipage, 
and  escorted  by  his  brass  band,  Douglas  made  his  way  to 
the  tavern,  his  admirers  greeting  him  with  enthusiasm  along 
the  way.  Much  of  the  time  Mrs.  Douglas,  a  woman  of  fine 
presence  and  of  gracious  manner,  accompanied  her  husband 
and  exercised  no  small  influence  in  his  favor. 

In  striking  contrast  to  this  method  of  travel,  Lincoln 
occupied  a  half -seat  in  an  ordinary  coach;  or,  if  there  was 
no  coach,  rode  in  a  freight-car,  although  on  some  occasions 
he  had  to  travel  during  the  night.  He  had  not  an  inde 
pendent  fortune  like  Douglas,  but  was  a  poor  man  and 
therefore  had  to  be  careful  about  the  expenditure  of  money. 

The  only  time  when  he  travelled  in  state  was  when  he 
went  to  some  out-of-the-way  place  not  on  the  railroad  to 


THE   LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES 


103 


make  a  speech  between  debates.     On  such  an  occasion  a 
distinguished  citizen  would  meet  Lincoln  at  the  station 


Lincoln  Greeted  by  Enthusiasts  during  the  Lincoln-Douglas  Debates. 

nearest  the  town  where  he  was  to  speak  and  take  him  in  a 
carriage.  When  within  two  or  three  miles  of  the  town 
they  would  be  met  by  a  procession  of  citizens  with  banners 


104  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

and  music.  Then  there  was  a  speech  of  greeting  and  wel 
come;  and  the  women  on  the  entertainment  committee 
presented  Lincoln  with  flowers,  and  sometimes,  although 
not  to  his  liking,  they  hung  a  garland  around  his  neck. 

These  seven  joint  debates  extended  over  a  period  of 
many  weeks.  It  was  veiy  hard  upon  the  debaters,  for 
almost  every  day  of  the  time  they  spoke  publicly  at  least 
once.  Each  of  them,  in  fact,  made  not  less  than  one  hun 
dred  speeches  during  this  remarkable  campaign.  Douglas 
spent  lavishly,  as  he  could  afford  to  do,  and  the  campaign 
cost  him  something  like  eighty  thousand  dollars.  Lincoln 
had  to  spend  carefully,  but  the  expenses  of  his  campaign 
footed  up  to  nearly  a  thousand  dollars,  an  insignificant 
sum  compared  with  Douglas's,  but  yet  much  more  than 
he  was  able  to  pay.  "I  am  absolutely  without  money/' 
declared  Lincoln  at  the  time,  "even  for  household  ex 
penses."  You  see  it  meant  much  for  him  that  during  all 
these  weeks  he  had  not  only  had  to  make  what  was  for 
him  a  heavy  outlay  of  money,  but  he  had  earned  nothing, 
or  next  to  nothing,  by  his  law  practice. 

The  election  for  the  Senate  took  place  in  early  autumn. 
Lincoln  received  a  majority  of  five  thousand  on  the  popular 
vote,  but  the  legislature  gave  Douglas  a  majority  of  eight, 
and  therefore  elected  him  to  the  United  States  Senate. 

Although  it  was  a  victoiy  for  the  "Little  Giant,"  as 
Douglas  was  called,  the  debates  accomplished  the  great 
purpose  which  Lincoln  had  in  mind.  They  made  clear  to 


THE   LINCOLN-DOUGLAS  DEBATES  105 

the  people  the  issues  involved  in  the  slavery  question. 
They  aroused  public  sentiment.  They  developed  public 
opinion  not  only  in  the  State  of  Illinois  but  throughout  the 
Union.  For  newspaper  reporters  came  from  as  far  away 
as  New  York,  and  the  reports  of  these  speeches  were  read 
everywhere  throughout  the  country.  Still  more,  they  drove 
the  South  to  reject  all  compromises  and  insist  upon  an 
out-and-out  slavery  man  for  President. 

Certain  it  is  that  they  gave  Lincoln  a  prominence  out 
side  of  his  own  State  that  he  never  had  had  before.  Be 
fore  the  debates  began  his  friends  were  fearful.  Some  of 
them  believed  that  he  was  putting  his  head  into  the  lion's 
mouth  and  ending  his  political  life.  But  such  was  not  the 
case.  For,  although  Douglas  became  United  States  senator, 
Lincoln  had  given  such  striking  evidence  of  his  breadth, 
vision,  and  true  statesmanship  that  two  years  later  he  be 
came  the  choice  of  the  Republican  party  for  President  of 
the  United  States. 

But  this  was  a  long  look  into  the  future,  and  he  could 
not  foresee  that  outcome.  Now  his  political  horizon 
loomed  dark.  Still  courage  did  riot  forsake  him.  While 
he  was  walking  home  in  the  gloom  and  darkness  of  that 
rainy  election  night,  after  he  had  heard  of  his  defeat  for 
the  senatorship,  he  slipped  in  the  muddy  street  and  came 
near  falling  to  the  ground;  but  on  recovering  his  balance 
he  said  to  himself,  as  he  thought  sadly  on  the  news  of 
his  defeat:  "It  is  a  slip  and  not  a  fall." 


106  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

For  four  long  years  he  had  struggled  manfully  to  con 
vince  the  people  that  slavery  was  wrong  and  should  not  be 
extended  into  new  States.  And  to  him  it  appeared  that  in 
this  great  cause  he  was  making  but  little  progress.  Yet 
courage  and  hope  and  faith  never  failed  him.  "The  re 
sult  is  not  doubtful,"  he  told  his  friends.  "We  shall  not 
fail  if  we  stand  firm.  We  shall  not  fail.  Wise  counsels 
may  accelerate  or  mistakes  delay  it;  but,  sooner  or  later, 
the  victory  is  sure  to  come."  And  so  it  proved.  The 
present  outcome  was  not  final.  The  day  of  success  was 
merely  postponed. 


CHAPTER  VII 
LINCOLN   ELECTED   PRESIDENT 

THE  prominence  into  which  the  now  famous  debates 
with  Douglas  brought  Lincoln  made  him  a  national  figure. 
He  received  many  invitations  to  speak  in  various  parts  of 
the  country,  the  most  important  being  New  York,  where 
he  made  an  address  at  Cooper  Union  on  February  27, 
1860. 

Realizing  the  value  of  this  opportunity,  Lincoln  pre 
pared  his  speech  with  the  greatest  possible  care.  His  audi 
ence  was  large,  cultivated,  and  brilliant.  Among  the  dis 
tinguished  men  sitting  on  the  platform  with  him  were 
William  Cullen  Bryant,  who  presided,  Horace  Greeley, 
and  David  Dudley  Field,  all  men  of  national  fame. 

Lincoln  was  not  insensible  to  the  difference  between 
this  group  of  polished  men  and  those  of  whom  he  had 
formed  the  centre  in  the  frontier  towns  of  the  West.  Being 
a  sensitive  and  discerning  man,  he  must  have  felt  the  con 
trast  between  himself  and  them.  His  personal  appearance 
seldom  engaged  his  thought  seriously,  but  now  evidently 
he  became  painfully  conscious,  for  a  brief  interval,  of  the 
clothes  he  wore.  Before  leaving  Springfield  he  had  bought 
a  ready-made  suit,  which  did  not  fit  his  gaunt  figure— 

107 


108  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

no  ready-made  suit  ever  did.  When  he  took  it  out  of  his 
little  valise  on  reaching  New  York,  it  was  badly  wrinkled. 
The  sleeves  were  too  short  for  his  long  arms,  and  when  he 
stood  up  to  speak,  one  leg  of  his  trousers  caught  above  his 
shoe.  A  smile  rippled  over  the  vast  audience.  Lincoln 
was  plainly  embarrassed.  His  hands  trembled,  and  when 
about  to  begin  his  fourth  page  he  lost  his  place.  After 
vainly  struggling  to  find  it,  he  put  aside  his  manuscript 
and  continued  speaking  without  it. 

Although  he  had  begun  in  a  low,  stammering  voice,  he 
soon  gained  self-mastery,  and  then  his  forceful  arguments, 
along  with  his  earnest  manner,  captured  his  audience,  who 
followed  him  with  rapt  interest.  In  closing  this  remark 
able  speech,  which  held  his  listeners  spellbound  for  an  hour 
and  a  half,  he  said:  "Let  us  have  faith  that  right  makes 
might;  and  in  that  faith  let  us,  to  the  end,  dare  to  do  our 
duty  as  we  understand  it.7' 

The  intelligent  men  and  women  present  felt  the  great 
ness  of  the  man.  They  knew  that  they  were  listening  to  a 
statesman.  Next  morning  Lincoln  awoke  to  find  himself 
famous.  "No  man/'  said  the  New  York  Tribune,  "ever 
before  made  such  an  impression  on  his  first  appeal  to  a 
New  York  audience."  "I  do  not  hesitate  to  pronounce  it," 
declared  Horace  Greeley  some  years  later,  "the  very  best 
political  address  to  which  I  have  ever  listened,  and  I  have 
heard  some  of  Webster's  grandest." 

Another  of  his  listeners  said  that  after  Lincoln  "began 


Lincoln  in  February,  1860. 
From  a  photograph  by  Brady,  taken  at  the  time  of  the  Cooper  Union  speech. 


110  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

to  get  into  his  subject,  his  face  lighted  as  with  an  inward 
fire;  the  whole  man  was  transfigured.  I  forgot  his  clothes, 
his  personal  appearance,  his  individual  peculiarities.  Pres 
ently,  forgetting  myself,  I  was  on  my  feet  with  the  rest, 
yelling  like  a  wild  Indian,  cheering  this  wonderful  man. 
In  the  close  part  of  his  argument,  you  could  hear  the  gentle 
sizzling  of  the  gas-burners.  When  he  reached  a  climax  the 
thunders  of  applause  were  terrific.  It  was  a  great  speech." 

This  speech  made  a  tremendous  impression,  and  it  did 
more  than  any  other  one  thing  to  give  Abraham  Lincoln 
the  nomination,  in  the  following  May,  for  the  presidency  of 
the  United  States. 

From  New  York  Lincoln  went  to  New  England  to  visit 
his  son  Robert,  who  was  at  school  in  Exeter,  New  Hamp 
shire.  The  fame  of  the  Cooper  Union  speech  preceded 
him,  and  he  received  many  invitations  to  speak.  His  ad 
dresses  in  several  New  England  cities  made  a  deep  im 
pression  upon  the  thousands  of  thoughtful  men  who  heard 
or  read  what  he  said.  Before  his  speech  in  New  York, 
the  mention  of  Abraham  Lincoln  as  a  candidate  for  the 
presidency  would  not  have  been  regarded  seriously  outside 
of  Illinois,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Iowa.  But  the  friendly  re 
ception  given  him  in  New  York  and  in  New  England  en 
couraged  him  in  his  ambition  to  attain  that  high  office. 

Returning  to  Illinois,  Lincoln  entered  heart  and  soul 
into  the  campaign.  Interest  in  his  law  practice  was  ab 
sorbed  in  the  greater  effort  put  forth  to  win  the  presidency. 


LINCOLN  ELECTED  PRESIDENT  111 

Many  strong  friends  came  to  his  support;  and  he  soon 
had  a  large  following  in  his  own  State,  where  confidence 
in  him  had  been  growing  since  the  time  of  his  joint  de 
bates  with  Douglas  in  1858. 

It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  at  the  Illinois  con 
vention  held  at  Decatur  on  May  9,  1860,  Lincoln  received 
the  enthusiastic  indorsement  of  his  State  for  the  presi 
dency.  A  dramatic  moment  was  given  to  that  meeting 
when  Lincoln's  old  friend,  John  Hanks,  marched  into  the 
wigwam  where  the  convention  was  held,  bearing  on  his 
shoulders  two  historic  fence-rails.  On  these  was  inscribed : 
"From  a  lot  made  by  Abraham  Lincoln  and  John  Hanks 
in  the  Sangamon  bottom  in  the  year  1830."  The  sight  of 
these  rails  brought  forth  loud  and  prolonged  cheers.  They 
were  a  token  of  the  kinship  between  these  hard-working, 
rough-visaged  men  and  their  gifted  brother.  It  was  a 
glad  hour  for  Lincoln,  whose  heart  beat  high  with  pride 
at  the  evidence  of  their  trust  and  loyal  support. 

Before  the  end  of  that  month  the  Republican  National 
Convention  was  held  in  Chicago,  in  a  wigwam  built  for  the 
occasion  and  large  enough  to  accommodate  ten  thousand 
people. 

By  the  time  the  four  hundred  and  sixty-five  delegates 
from  all  over  the  Union — except  nine  of  the  slave  States- 
had  arrived,  at  least  forty  thousand  men  had  gathered  in 
the  city,  in  order  to  be  present  on  this  important  occasion. 
There  were  several  candidates,  the  strongest,  as  most 


112 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


people  believed,  being  Senator  William  H.  Seward  of  New 
York;  a  distinguished  leader  of  the  Republican  party.  His 
eminence  as  a  statesman,  and  his  ability  and  experience, 
so  far  overshadowed  that  of  any  other  candidate  that  his 
nomination  seemed  almost  a  certainty.  This  was  true  up 


fll  I  1  1  I    I 


The  "Wigwam,"  Chicago,  in  which  the  Convention  was  Held  when  Lincoln 
was  Nominated. 

to  the  end  of  the  session  of  Thursday,  the  second  day.  If 
the  vote  had  been  taken  then,  Seward  would  doubtless 
have  been  the  winning  candidate.  The  men  who  were 
fighting  against  him  were  so  sure  of  this  that  they  secured 
an  adjournment  until  Friday  morning. 

In  the  hours  intervening,  the  Lincoln  managers  worked 
hard.     There  was  a  well-grounded  belief  that  Seward  would 


LINCOLN   ELECTED   PRESIDENT  113 

be  strongly  opposed  by  the  men  of  his  party  in  the  doubt 
ful  States  of  Pennsylvania;  New  Jersey,  Indiana,  and  Illi 
nois,  and  the  Lincoln  leaders  made  use  of  that  fact.  They 
argued:  "Seward  is  too  radical  for  the  many  conservative 
voters  in  these  four  States.  In  them  he  cannot  win,  and 
their  vote  is  necessary  for  the  success  of  the  Republican 
ticket."  This  was  a  strong  argument,  since  the  success  or 
failure  of  the  presidential  candidate  in  carrying  a  State 
greatly  influences  the  election  or  defeat  of  the  governor  and 
other  officers  in  that  State,  all  being  on  the  same  ticket. 

The  State  leaders  realized  that  the  new  party  would 
probably  win  or  lose  in  their  States  according  to  the  pop 
ularity  of  the  presidential  candidate  chosen  by  the  con 
vention.  This  made  the  nomination  a  burning  question 
for  themselves  as  well  as  for  their  country.  It  was  a  night 
of  thrilling  excitement.  Party  leaders  slept  little.  Their 
followers  hurried  hither  and  yon.  Messages  flashed  back 
and  forth. 

Se ward's  men  were  confident  that  he  would  be  nomi 
nated  on  Friday  morning.  Yet  to  strengthen  his  cause  they 
had  large  bodies  of  men,  accompanied  by  bands  of  music 
and  led  in  cheering  by  strong-voiced  leaders,  marching  and 
countermarching  through  the  streets,  making  noisy  demon 
strations  in  his  favor.  They  carried  banners  and  trans 
parencies.  They  set  off  rockets,  and  they  serenaded  the 
State  delegates  whose  support  they  expected  to  receive. 
The  streets  were  alive  with  excitement. 


114  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

The  Lincoln  leaders  too  were  organized,  and  they  even 
outgeneraled  the  Seward  men,  as  we  shall  see.  They  gath 
ered  ten  thousand  men  who  were  ready  to  do  duty  for 
Lincoln — to  march  for  him;  shout  for  him,  and  if  need  be 
fight  for  him.  Lincoln  flags  were  stretched  across  every 
street,  and  Lincoln  emblems  decorated  busses  and  build 
ings  on  every  side.  But,  best  of  all,  next  morning  at  day 
break,  while  the  Seward  men  were  noisily  parading  the 
streets,  Lincoln's  supporters,  several  thousand  strong,  were 
shrewdly  securing  the  best  seats  in  the  convention  hall, 
ready  to  shout,  cheer,  and  break  out  in  deafening  applause 
at  every  mention  of  Lincoln's  name.  Hundreds  of  women, 
also,  were  present;  and  at  every  mention  of  his  name  they 
waved  handkerchiefs  and  joined  the  men  in  fluttering  the 
many  small  flags  which  had  been  distributed  for  this  special 
purpose. 

Let  us  imagine  ourselves  at  the  convention.  We  are 
seated  in  the  great  wigwam,  facing  a  huge  platform  crowded 
with  delegates.  The  clock  is  on  the  stroke  of  ten,  and  the 
presiding  officer  has  risen  to  open  the  meeting.  The  various 
nominations  have  been  made.  Presently  the  first  ballot  is 
taken.  Eagerly  we  await  the  count.  Ah !  Seward  has 
173^;  Lincoln,  102;  Cameron,  50^;  Chase,  49;  Bates, 
48;  scattering,  42;  necessary  to  a  choice,  233. 

Although  Seward  has  failed  by  59^  votes  to  get  the 
nomination  on  the  first  ballot,  his  followers  have  lost  none 
of  their  confidence  that  he  will  win.  The  vast  audience  is 


LINCOLN  ELECTED  PRESIDENT 


115 


electrified  with  intense  excitement,  and  all  are  alert  for 
the  trial  of  strength  which  is  to  follow.  "Call  the  roll! 
Call  the  roll !"  shouts  delegate  after  delegate. 

The  second  ballot 
stands:  Seward,  184H; 
Lincoln,  181;  and  all 
the  rest  99H-  Sew 
ard  has  gained  11 
votes;  Lincoln  has 
gained  79.  The  Sew 
ard  leaders  turn  pale, 
for  the  vote  points 
unmistakably  to  the 
success  of  Lincoln. 
With  intense  interest 
all  follow  the  third 
roll-call.  The  great 
hall  is  so  still  that  we 
can  hear  the  scratch 
ing  of  pencils  as  men 
with  trembling  hands 
nervously  write  out  the  record.  When  the  last  State  responds, 
the  tally  shows  that  Seward's  vote  has  fallen  to  180,  while 
Lincoln's  has  risen  to  231J4.  Only  11A  more  needed  for  the 
nomination  !  But  even  before  the  ballot  can  be  announced, 
four  of  the  Ohio  votes  are  transferred  from  Chase  to  Lincoln, 
and  Lincoln  has  won.  The  nomination  is  made  unanimous. 


William  H.  Seward. 


116  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Then  come  such  loud  shouting  and  prolonged  cheering 
from  the  thousands  gone  mad  with  enthusiasm,  that  we 
can  hardly  hear  the  report  of  the  cannon  on  the  roof  as  it 
booms  the  signal  to  the  crowds  outside.  They  take  up  the 
sound  and  pass  it  on  through  the  city,  where  bells  ring  and 
whistles  shriek  and  blow.  Chicago  is  jubilant.  Her  fa 
vorite  has  won ! 

The  news  spread  like  wildfire  over  the  prairies  and 
flashed  over  the  wires  to  the  East.  When  Senator  Douglas 
heard  of  Lincoln's  nomination,  he  remarked  to  a  group  of 
Republicans  at  the  Capitol:  "Gentlemen,  you  have  nomi 
nated  a  very  able  and  a  very  honest  man." 

But  not  to  all  even  of  the  Republican  leaders  was  the 
message  a  pleasing  one.  It  came  as  a  shock  to  many  who 
had  not  yet  learned  to  know  the  sterling  qualities  of  the 
candidate.  Those  who  had  expected  the  nomination  of 
Seward  were  startled  and  alarmed.  They  declared  that 
the  choice  of  this  country  lawyer,  this  inexperienced  back 
woodsman,  as  they  chose  to  call  him,  to  be  the  executive 
head  of  a  great  country  like  ours,  was  an  appalling  blunder. 

"I  remember,"  said  a  Republican  of  1860,  "that  when 
I  first  read  the  news  on  the  bulletin-board  I  experienced  a 
moment  of  intense  physical  pain.  It  was  as  though  some 
one  had  dealt  me  a  heavy  blow  over  the  head.  Then  my 
strength  failed  me.  I  believed  our  cause  was  doomed." 
This  is  hardly  surprising  when  we  remember  that  until 
Lincoln  entered  upon  the  series  of  joint  debates  with  Stephen 


LINCOLN   ELECTED   PRESIDENT  117 

A.  Douglas,  only  two  years  before,  he  was  practically  un 
known  outside  of  his  own  State. 

But  where  was  Lincoln  during  all  this  seething  turmoil 
of  the  convention?  In  Springfield,  waiting  quietly  and  as 
patiently  as  possible  for  the  end.  It  had  been  to  him  a 
most  trying  week,  and  under  the  strain  of  expectation  he 
had  many  depressed  hours.  On  the  morning  when  the 
balloting  took  place,  he  said  to  a  friend:  "I  guess  I'll  go 
back  to  the  law  business.7'  But  he  stood  with  a  crowd  in 
front  of  his  office  listening  to  the  news  as  it  came  over  the 
wire. 

When  the  strain  became  too  great,  he  suddenly  remem 
bered  an  errand  he  had  promised  to  do  for  Mrs.  Lincoln 
across  the  street.  He  had  made  his  purchase  and  stood  in 
the  doorway,  when  a  boy  from  his  office  came  tearing 
through  the  crowd  with  a  telegram  in  his  hand.  "Mr. 
Lincoln,  Mr.  Lincoln,  you  have  received  the  nomination!" 
he  shouted.  There  was  great  general  rejoicing,  in  which 
Mr.  Lincoln  joined  for  a  few  minutes.  Then  he  said 
quietly:  "There  is  a  little  woman  down  at  our  house  who 
will  like  to  hear  this.  I'll  go  down  and  tell  her" — and  he 
was  off  in  a  hasty  search  for  Mrs.  Lincoln,  to  share  with 
her  the  joy  of  that  happy  hour. 

Thirty-six  hours  after  Lincoln's  nomination  in  Chicago," 
a  committee  of  distinguished  men  stepped  off  the  train  at 
Springfield  to  notify  him  of  the  event.  They  quietly  passed 
through  the  streets  to  the  plain,  modest,  two-story  house 


118 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


where  the  Lincolns  lived  in  an  unfashionable  quarter  of 
the  town. 

Lincoln  received  them  in  his  living-room  with   quiet 


C|ufH«3>pnre.J<r 

Lincoln  Receiving  News  of  His  Nomination. 

dignity.  Already  suffering  from  a  reaction  which  followed 
the  first  good  news  of  his  nomination;  he  was  now  in  a  sad 
and  depressed  mood.  While  the  chairman  was  speaking 
the  group  of  men  were  giving  their  candidate  a  critical  sur- 


LINCOLN  ELECTED   PRESIDENT  119 

vey.  His  appearance  made  a  poor  impression  upon  them. 
His  thick,  dark  hair  lay  in  disorder,  his  eyes  were  sombre 
and  downcast,  and  his  stooping  shoulders  made  him  ap 
pear  to  be  a  man  without  strength  of  will  or  definite  pur 
pose.  But  as  soon  as  he  began  to  speak,  his  body  became 
erect,  his  eyes  lighted  up  with  intelligence  and  high  resolve, 
and  his  voice  was  clear  and  firm.  As  he  became  absorbed 
in  giving  his  thoughts  expression,  his  personality  seemed 
to  undergo  a  transformation.  Thrilled  by  this  sudden  and 
complete  change,  Lincoln's  auditors  noted  with  surprise 
arid  pleasure  that  he  wras  a  man  of  strength,  well  worth}' 
of  their  respect  and  confidence. 

His  remarks  were  very  brief,  but  they  were  in  good 
taste.  He  expressed  his  appreciation  of  the  honor  he  had 
received,  and  the  sense  of  the  responsibility  he  must  meet. 
One  of  the  members  of  the  committee,  who  had  voted 
against  Lincoln,  turning  to  Carl  Schurz,  remarked:  "Sir, 
we  might  have  done  a  more  daring  thing,  but  we  certainly 
could  not  have  done  a  better  thing."  And  it  was  with  that 
feeling  that  the  committee,  after  an  hour  or  so  of  genial 
conversation,  went  away. 

Lincoln's  formal  letter  of  acceptance,  though  hardly 
one  hundred  and  fifty  words  in  length,  was  prepared  with 
the  greatest  care.  When  he  had  finished  it  he  took  it  to 
Dr.  Bateman,  a  friend  who  was  State  superintendent  of 
public  instruction,  for  criticism  and  correction.  "Mr. 
Schoolmaster/'  said  Lincoln,  "here  is  my  letter  of  accept- 


120 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


ance.  I  am  not  very  strong  on  grammar,  and  I  wish  you 
to  see  if  it  is  all  right;  I  shouldn't  like  to  have  any  mis 
takes  in  it." 

After    reading    the    manuscript    Dr.    Bateman    said: 
"  There  is  only  one  change  I  should  suggest,  Mr.  Lincoln. 


.  .  JiiUiLC 

Lincoln's  Home,  Springfield. 


You  have  written,  '  It  shall  be  my  care  to  not  violate  or  dis 
regard  it  in  any  part/  You  should  have  written  'not  to 
violate.'  Never  split  an  infinitive,  is  the  rule." 

Mr.  Lincoln,  after  looking  at  the  manuscript  thought 
fully,  remarked,  as  he  made  the  change:  "So  you  think  I 
better  put  those  two  little  fellows  end  to  end,  do  you?" 

The  nomination  having  been  made,  the  party  press,  the 
Republican  organization,  rival  candidates,  and  literary 
men  all  united  in  the  support  of  the  candidate.  From  the 
day  of  his  nomination  till  his  election,  steady  and  earnest 


LINCOLN  ELECTED  PRESIDENT  121 

work  for  the  ticket  went  on.  This  heartened  Lincoln,  who 
after  the  first  joy  of  his  success  began  to  feel  the  burden 
of  his  responsibility.  Street  parades  of  young  men  calling 
themselves  "Wide  Awakes/'  dressed  in  black  oilcloth  capes, 
and  hats,  carrying  flaming  torches,  singing  campaign  songs,, 
and  bearing  aloft  banners  and  transparencies,  added  ta 
the  interest  and  excitement  of  the  campaign. 

There  was  the  stumping  of  the  country  by  eminent  cam 
paign  speakers.  Pamphlets  and  campaign  tracts  were 
freely  scattered.  Many  of  the  people  who  did  not  know 
Lincoln  before,  learned  to  respect  and  trust  him  from  his 
printed  speeches.  In  these  ways  a  great  education  went 
on,  and  much  enthusiasm  was  created.  Before  the  close 
of  the  campaign,  the  voters  in  Lincoln's  own  and  neighbor 
ing  States  formed  a  procession  eight  miles  long  and  marched 
past  his  house.  With  friends  he  sat  upon  his  piazza,  an 
swering  the  salutes  in  his  friendly  way. 

As  his  custom  was,  Lincoln  continued  to  live  a  very 
simple  life.  Every  day  up  to  the  time  of  his  nomination, 
he  had  gone,  after  closing  his  office,  out  on  the  common  and 
driven  home  his  cow,  fed  and  groomed  his  horse,  cleaned  out 
his  humble  stable,  and  then  chopped  wood  and  carried  it  in 
for  the  kitchen  fire.  After  his  nomination  there  was  little 
change  in  these  simple,  homely  habits.  But  it  seemed  to 
his  friends  that  neither  his  home  nor  his  dingy  law  office 
was  an  appropriate  place  to  meet  the  visitors  that  came  in 
throngs  to  see  him.  So  an  office  was  secured  in  the  State 


122 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


House,  which  stood  on  the  village  green  in  the  centre  of  the 
town.  Every  morning  about  eight  o'clock  Lincoln  was  at 
his  desk;  but  on  his  way  there,  as  in  previous  years,  he  liked 
to  stop  and  talk  with  his  friends. 


Lincoln  Office  in  the  State-House,  Occupied  after  the  Nomination. 

Of  course  his  visitors  were  numerous.  On  some  days 
the  throng  was  so  great  that  he  could  not  attend  to  the 
letters  that  came  to  him  in  ever-increasing  numbers.  But 
no  matter  how  crowded  his  office,  nor  how  high  his  desk 
might  be  piled  up  with  important  mail,  he  never  lost  his 
patience  and  never  seemed  to  be  in  a  hurry. 

Many  of  his  visitors  were  eminent  men;  but  some  were 
the  backwoods  people  he  had  known  years  before,  when  he 
kept  store  in  New  Salem  or  when  he  was  surveying  in 


LINCOLN  ELECTED  PRESIDENT  123 

Sangamon  County.  On  one  occasion,  while  he  was  receiv 
ing  some  distinguished  political  leaders  from  a  distance, 
an  elderly  woman  in  a  big  sunbonnet,  coarse  shoes,  and 
a  short  dress  appeared,  carrying  in  her  hand  a  package 
wrapped  in  brown  paper  and  tied  with  a  white  string.  Lin 
coln  turned  at  once  to  greet  her,  inquiring  for  her  " folks.'7 
Handing  him  the  package,  which  contained  a  pair  of  coarse 
blue  woollen  stockings,  she  said  with  pride:  "I  wanted  to 
give  you  something  Mr.  Linkin,  to  take  to  Washington, 
and  that's  all  I  had.  I  spun  that  yarn  and  knit  them  socks 
myself." 

After  thanking  her  heartily  Lincoln  escorted  her  to  the 
door  with  as  much  courtesy  as  if  she  had  been  a  queen, 
and  then  going  back  to  the  visitors,  he  picked  up  the  stock 
ings  and  holding  them  by  the  toes,  one  in  each  hand,  he 
remarked  with  a  whimsical  smile:  "The  old  lady  got  my 
latitude  and  longitude  about  right,  didn't  she?"  Such 
incidents,  showing  the  friendly  attitude  of  the  plain  peo 
ple  toward  the  man  who  had  worked  humbly  among  them, 
were  frequent  and  gave  Lincoln  much  pleasure. 

On  election  day  the  townspeople  crowded  into  the 
office  in  larger  numbers  than  usual.  Observing  this,  some 
one  suggested  that  Lincoln  should  close  the  office-door  in 
order  to  have  command  of  his  time.  But  he  said:  "I 
have  never  yet  closed  my  doors  against  my  friends,  and  I 
shall  not  do  so  to-day." 

After  Lincoln's  nomination  the  country  grew  more  and 


124  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

more  excited  over  the  slavery  question.  What  the  South 
would  do  was  doubtful.  When  the  Democratic  conven 
tion  met  in  June,  the  Southern  members  wished  that  there 
should  be  inserted  in  the  platform  of  the  party  a  plank 
clearly  stating  that  slavery  should  exist  in  the  Territories 
without  interference  on  the  part  of  Congressional  or  Terri 
torial  legislation.  To  this  the  Northern  Democrats  would 
not  agree.  They  insisted  that  Douglas's  policy  of  popular 
sovereignty  ought  to  be  carried  out  in  the  Territories. 

Douglas,  you  will  remember,  in  answer  to  Lincoln's 
question  in  their  debate  about  the  matter,  had  said  that 
the  people  of  any  Territory  could  by  unfriendly  legislation 
put  an  end  to  slavery  within  their  borders.  That  answer 
was  the  rock  on  which  his  ship  had  foundered;  for,  as  Lin 
coln's  clear  vision  had  foreseen,  it  aroused  hostile  criticism 
in  the  South  and  Douglas  lost  his  hold  there.  This  led  to 
a  split  in  the  Democratic  party.  The  Northern  Democrats 
nominated  Douglas  for  President,  while  the  Southern  Demo 
crats  nominated  John  C.  Breckinridge. 

Since  the  Democratic  vote  would  be  divided  between  the 
two  candidates,  neither  could  win  without  getting  many 
votes  from  the  Republican  party.  Would  the  Republicans 
stand  by  Lincoln?  That  wras  the  pressing  question. 

During  the  trying  period  between  Lincoln's  nomination 
in  May  and  the  presidential  election  in  November,  he  re 
fused  to  say  anything  as  to  his  future  policy.  He  would 
grant  no  interviews  to  newspaper  men,  make  no  speeches, 


LINCOLN   ELECTED   PRESIDENT  125 

and  write  no  letters  for  the  public  to  read.  He  wisely  said 
it  would  be  useless  for  him  to  announce  his  views  on  political 
questions;  because  he  had  clearly  set  them  forth  in  his 
speeches  and  he  had  not  changed  his  mind.  During  the 
entire  campaign  he  remained  in  Springfield,  and  he  made 
but  one  speech.  This  was  on  the  evening  following  his 
nomination,  when  the  townspeople  in  serenading  him  asked 
him  to  address  them.  At  that  time  he  said  that,  as  to  his 
position  on  the  political  questions  of  the  day,  he  could  only 
refer  them  to  his  previous  speeches.  He  then  added: 
"Fellow  citizens  and  friends,  the  time  comes  upon  every 
public  man  when  it  is  best  for  him  to  keep  his  lips  closed. 
That  time  has  come  upon  me." 

There  were  especially  good  reasons  why  he  should  choose 
to  remain  silent.  The  South  was  seething  with  excitement 
over  his  nomination,  and  to  keep  saying  the  same  things 
that  had  aroused  their  fears  and  perhaps  their  hatred 
could  only  add  to  the  bad  feeling  in  the  South,  without 
further  enlightening  or  convincing  the  North. 

The  results  of  election  day  in  November  witnessed  in 
no  uncertain  way  to  the  people's  faith  in  Lincoln,  for  out 
of  303  electoral  votes  he  received  ISO. 

The  South  now  became  tense  with  excitement.  Threats 
of  secession  had  been  made  for  some  time,  and  when  Lin 
coln  was  elected  South  Carolina  at  once  seceded.  The 
politicians  of  that  State  had  never  forgotten  his  bitter  op 
position  to  slavery,  nor  his  speech  declaring  that  a  house 


126  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

divided  against  itself  could  not  stand.  They  looked  upon 
the  President-elect  as  a  menace  to  the  existence  of  slavery, 
and  chose  to  protect  themselves  by  setting  up  a  govern 
ment  of  their  own. 

In  the  midst  of  all  the  turmoil  and  confusion  of  the 
hour,  those  newspapers  hostile  to  Lincoln  said  that  there 
ought  to  be  some  compromise  offered  which  would  allay 
excitement  and  stop  secession.  Some  of  the  Republican 
papers,  also,  joined  in  this  demand.  It  was  as  if  they 
thought  Lincoln's  election  had  caused  all  the  trouble  and 
that  therefore  it  was  Lincoln's  duty  to  stop  it.  Among 
other  appeals  Lincoln  received  one  from  John  A.  Gilmer, 
a  congressman  from  North  Carolina,  who  earnestly  desired 
that  the  Union  should  be  preserved  and  begged  Lincoln 
to  do  something.  In  answer  Lincoln  wrote  as  follows: 

"'I  have  not  thought  of  recommending  the  abolition  of 
slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia  nor  the  slave-trade 
among  the  slave  States;  and  if  I  should  make  such  a  recom 
mendation  it  is  quite  clear  Congress  would  not  follow  it. 
On  the  Territorial  question  I  am  inflexible.  ...  On  that 
there  is  a  difference  between  you  and  us;  and  it  is  the  only 
substantial  difference.  You  think  slavery  is  right  and  ought 
to  be  extended;  we  think  it  wrong  and  ought  to  be  re 
stricted.  For  this  neither  has  just  cause  to  be  angry  with 
the  other." 

Again,  a  week  later,  Lincoln  wrote  to  Alexander  H. 
Stephens,  of  Georgia,  whom  he  had  known  in  Congress  and 


LINCOLN  ELECTED  PRESIDENT  127 

who  afterward  became  vice-president  of  the  Southern 
Confederacy.  This  is  a  part  of  the  letter  which  he  marked 
"For  your  eyes  only": 

"Do  the  people  of  the  South  really  entertain  fears  that 
a  Republican  administration  would  directly  or  indirectly 
interfere  with  the  slaves  ?  If  they  do,  I  wish  to  assure  you, 
as  once  a  friend,  and  still,  I  hope,  not  an  enemy,  that  there 
is  no  cause  for  such  fears.  The  South  would  be  in  no  more 
danger  in  this  respect  than  in  the  days  of  Washington. 
I  suppose,  however,  that  this  does  not  meet  the  case. 
You  think  slavery  is  right  and  ought  to  be  extended,  while 
we  think  it  is  wrong  and  ought  to  be  restricted.  That,  I 
suppose,  is  the  rub.  It  certainly  is  the  only  substantial 
difference  between  us." 

Not  all  of  the  people  in  the  Southern  States  believed  in 
secession.  Many  leading  men,  both  North  and  South, 
sought  some  plan  by  which  it  might  be  avoided.  Seces 
sion,  they  believed,  would  lead  to  coercion,  and  coercion 
would  lead  to  bloodshed.  There  was  on  both  sides  a  strong 
desire  that  the  trouble  might  be  settled. 

One  of  the  plans  discussed  was  an  amendment  to  the 
Constitution.  The  originator  of  this  plan  was  Senator  Crit- 
tenden,  of  Kentucky.  He  proposed  to  Congress  a  com 
promise  which  provided  that  the  parallel  of  thirty-six 
degrees  thirty  minutes  north  latitude — the  Missouri  Com 
promise  line — should  be  the  separating  line  between  free 
territory  and  slave  territory  as  far  as  the  Pacific  coast. 


128  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

But  Lincoln  was  inflexible  about  the  extension  of  slavery, 
and  wrote  to  Mr.  Kellogg,  of  Illinois,  a  member  of  the  com 
mittee  chosen  to  consider  the  Critteriden  Compromise: 
"  Entertain  no  proposition  for  a  compromise  in  regard  to 
the  extension  of  slavery.  The  instant  you  do  they  have 
us  under  again.  All  our  labor  is  lost  and  sooner  or  later 
must  be  done  over.  .  .  .  The  tug  has  to  come  and  better 
now  than  later."  A  less  courageous  man  than  Lincoln 
might  have  sought  shelter  in  compromise  from  the  de 
structive  storm  which  he  foresaw  was  about  to  break  upon 
his  administration. 

Further  evidence  of  his  determination  to  face  the  issue 
squarely  appears  in  a  letter  he  wrote  in  December  to  his 
friend,  E.  B.  Washburne,  who  had  just  given  him  a  report 
of  a  conference  with  General  Scott,  commander-in-chief 
of  the  army,  upon  the  danger  threatening  the  country. 
"  Please  present  my  respects  to  the  general,"  Lincoln  wrote, 
"and  tell  him,  confidentially,  that  I  shall  be  obliged  to 
him  to  be  as  well  prepared  as  he  can  either  to  hold  or  re 
take  the  forts,  as  the  case  may  require,  at  or  after  the 
inauguration." 

These  letters  show  that  although  Lincoln  was  making 
no  speeches  and  no  public  appeals  of  any  kind,  yet  he  was 
not  inactive.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  thoroughly  alive 
to  what  was  going  on,  and  was  doing  all  that  was  possible 
for  a  man  in  his  position  to  do  to  prepare  for  the  terrible 
catastrophe  which  he  saw  inevitably  advancing.  He  was 


LINCOLN  ELECTED  PRESIDENT  129 

also  meeting  in  Springfield  many  Republican  leaders,  some 
of  whom  were  presenting  various  plans  to  calm  the  dis 
tracted  people.  But  Lincoln  could  do  little  as  yet.  Four 
months  intervened  before  he  would  come  into  office. 

Buchanan,  who  was  then  President  of  the  United  States, 
had  a  great  opportunity,  but  he  did  not  use  it.  "He 
seemed  at  that  time/'  said  Crittenden;  of  whom  we  have 
just  spoken,  "  shaken  in  body  and  uncertain  in  mind — an 
old  man  worn  by  worry."  He  had  almost  lost  the  power  of 
making  any  definite  decision.  In  his  annual  message  to 
Congress,  December  4,  1860,  he  denied  the  right  of  any 
State  to  secede,  but  a  little  further  on  in  his  message  he 
declared  that  Congress  had  no  power  to  coerce  a  State  if 
it  did  secede.  When  the  country  needed  a  strong  hand  at 
the  helm,  Buchanan  allowed  things  to  drift,  and  the  worst 
of  it  was  that  they  were  drifting  away  from  the  government. 
In  spite  of  his  weakness  and  vacillation,  however,  the  com 
mon  belief  now  is  that  he  was  sincere,  honest,  and  patriotic. 
The  fact  is,  he  was  in  a  most  painful  and  even  pitiful  sit 
uation,  for  which  he  had  to  thank  largely  his  own  past 
course  as  a  pro-slavery  advocate  ready  to  do  the  bidding 
of  the  Southern  leaders. 

To  make  matters  worse,  there  was  division  of  opinion 
in  Lincoln's  own  party  as  to  how  secession  should  be  dealt 
with.  Horace  Greeley,  editor  of  the  New  York  Tribune, 
who  at  that  time  was  one  of  the  foremost  leaders  in  the 
Republican  party,  said  in  the  editorial  columns  of  his 


130  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

paper  on  November  9,  1860:  "If  the  cotton  States  shall 
decide  that  they  can  do  better  out  of  the  Union  than  in 
it,  we  insist  on  letting  them  go  in  peace."  This  was  a 
shocking  blow  to  the  Union  cause. 

On  December  17  he  again  said  through  the  editorial 
columns  of  the  Tribune  that  the  South  had  as  good  a  right 
to  secede  from  the  Union  as  the  colonists  had  to  secede 
from  Great  Britain  in  the  days  of  the  American  Revolu 
tion;  and  as  late  as  February  26,  only  a  week  before  Lin 
coln's  inauguration,  Greeley  declared,  in  words  that  startled 
many  loyal  Union  men,  that  if  the  cotton  States,  or  the 
Gulf  States,  chose  to  form  an  independent  nation  they  had 
a  clear  moral  right  to  do  so. 

Thurlow  Weed,  editor  of  the  Albany  Evening  Journal 
and  a  close  friend  of  William  H.  Seward,  declared  himself 
in  favor  of  making  concessions  to  the  South,  even  express 
ing  the  wish  that  the  Republicans  might  "meet  secession 
as  patriots  and  not  as  partisans." 

Henry  Ward  Beecher,  a  Brooklyn  clergyman  of  power 
ful  eloquence,  when  asked  whether  he  thought  the  South 
would  secede,  replied:  "I  don't  believe  they  will,  and  I 
don't  care  if  they  do."  And  the  business  men  of  the 
North,  almost  stampeded  by  the  prospect  of  confusion 
and  chaos  in  industry  and  commerce,  became  strongly 
desirous  that  steps  be  taken  in  the  direction  of  concession, 
compromise,  or  even  surrender  to  the  demands  of  the 
Southern  slaveholders. 


LINCOLN  ELECTED  PRESIDENT  131 

To  many  the  country  seemed  to  be  moving  toward  ruin. 
There  was  general  alarm.  The  situation  had  become  more 
than  dangerous — it  was  appalling.  All  seemed  powerless 
to  avert  the  threatening  disaster. 

But  the  people's  chosen  leader,  Abraham  Lincoln,  calm 
and  cool-headed,  never  wavered.  He  absolutely  refused 
to  yield  to  any  plan  of  compromise  on  the  fundamental 
doctrine  of  the  Republican  party.  "  There  must  be  no  ex 
tension  of  slaver}7',"  he  said;  "we  must  keep  the  evil  insti 
tution  where  it  is." 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  distraction  and  confusion  Lin 
coln,  about  the  middle  of  January,  1861,  set  about  pre 
paring  his  inaugural  address.  He  wTrote  it  in  an  up-stairs 
back  room  of  the  building  in  which  he  had  his  law  office. 
It  was  a  dingy  room  containing  one  chair  and  an  old  desk 
provided  with  an  inkstand  and  a  steel  pen.  For  references 
he  had  only  the  Constitution,  Jackson's  "Nullification 
Proclamation,"  Webster's  "Reply  to  Hayne,"  and  Henry 
Clay's  speech  of  1850.  With  these  few  helps  and  in  these 
bare  surroundings  Abraham  Lincoln,  alone  with  his  own 
spirit,  prepared  what  is  now  considered  a  famous  state 
paper,  his  first  inaugural. 

Having  finished  this  task,  he  began,  about  two  weeks 
before  leaving  Springfield,  to  put  his  business  in  order. 
One  of  the  things  he  did  was  to  visit  his  aged  stepmother 
in  Coles  County.  He  wished  to  spend  a  day  with  her  and 
go  to  his  father's  grave.  She  had  been  good  to  him  when 


132 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


he  was  a  motherless  boy,  and  he  had  always  been  good  to 
her  since  the  day  when  he  left  his  father's  home  to  fight 
life's  battles  for  himself.  Now,  before  taking  up  his  work 
as  President,  he  wished  to  make  provision  for  her  comfort 

while  he  should  be  far 
away  from  her.  But 
her  thought  was  more 
for  him  than  for  her 
self,  and  she  broke  into 
sobs  as  she  told  him 
her  fear  that  his  life 
would  be  taken  by  the 
hands  of  a  murderer, 
and  that  she  should 
never  see  him  again. 
Many  friends,  among 
them  Hannah  Arm 
strong,  shared  this 
fear,  for  his  life  had 
been  often  threatened. 
His  farewell  visit  to 
his  old  law  partner,  Herndon,  gives  another  interesting 
glimpse  of  this  great  man.  After  taking  care  of  some  busi 
ness  details  Lincoln  crossed  the  room  and  lay  down  upon 
the  old  sofa,  which  was  so  familiar  to  him.  For  a  few 
moments  he  looked  up  at  the  ceiling  without  speaking  a 
word.  Then,  turning  to  his  partner,  he  said  gently: 


Sarah  Bush  Lincoln. 


LINCOLN  ELECTED   PRESIDENT  133 

" Billy ;  how  long  have  we  been  together?'' 

"Over  sixteen  years/'  was  the  answer. 

"We  have  never  had  a  cross  word  during  all  that  time, 
have  we?" 

Before  bidding  farewell  to  his  partner  he  turned  to 
him  and  said:  "I  wish  the  sign  to  remain  as  it  is.  Let  it 
hang  there  undisturbed.  ...  If  I  live  I  am  coming  back 
sometime  and  then  we  will  go  right  on  practising  law  as 
if  nothing  had  happened."  Then,  tying  up  some  books 
and  papers,  he  went  out  of  the  office,  never  to  return. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  determination  of  the  Southern 
States  to  set  up  a  government  of  their  own  was  being 
actually  carried  out.  For  by  February  1  six  other  cotton 
States — Mississippi,  Florida,  Alabama,  Georgia,  Louisiana, 
and  Texas— had  joined  South  Carolina  in  seceding  from 
the  Union.  Delegates  from  these  seven  States  met  at 
Montgomery,  Alabama,  on  February  9,  and  organized  the 
Southern  Confederacy.  They  agreed  upon  a  constitu 
tion  and  elected  Jefferson  Davis  President,  and  Alexander 
H.  Stephens  Vice-President.  At  first  the  Confederate  cap 
ital  was  Montgomery,  but  later  it  was  made  Richmond, 
\lrginia. 

Lincoln  was  to  be  inaugurated  on  March  4.  On  the 
morning  of  February  11,  the  day  before  his  fifty-second 
birthday,  with  his  family  and  a  few  personal  friends  he 
started  for  Washington.  It  was  a  few  minutes  before  eight 
o'clock  when  he  made  his  way  out  of  the  waiting-room  of 


134  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  Springfield  railroad-station  through  a  throng  of  friends 
and  neighbors  who  were  gathered  to  say  good-by.  Having 
reached  his  special  car,  he  took  his  place  on  the  rear  plat 
form.  As  he  looked  down  upon  the  kindly,  upturned  faces 
of  those  who  knew  and  loved  him,  a  wave  of  emotion  swept 
over  his  tall  figure.  His  lips  quivered,  and  tears  filled  his 
eyes.  For  a  few  moments  he  stood  in  solemn  silence.  Then, 
getting  control  of  himself,  he  spoke  in  a  husky  voice  the 
following  sad  farewell: 

"My  friends,  no  one  not  in  my  situation  can  appre 
ciate  my  feeling  of  sadness  at  this  parting.  To  this  place 
and  the  kindness  of  these  people  I  owe  everything.  Here 
I  have  lived  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  have  passed  from  a 
young  to  an  old  man.  Here  my  children  have  been  born 
and  one  is  buried.  I  now  leave,  not  knowing  when  or 
whether  ever  I  may  return,  with  a  task  before  me  greater 
than  that  which  rested  on  Washington.  Without  the  as 
sistance  of  that  Divine  Being  who  ever  attended  him  I 
cannot  succeed;  with  that  assistance  I  cannot  fail.  Trust 
ing  in  him  who  can  go  with  me  and  remain  with  you  and 
be  everywhere  for  good,  let  us  confidently  hope  that  all 
will  yet  be  well.  To  his  care  commending  you,  as  I  hope 
in  your  prayers  you  will  commend  me,  I  bid  you  an  affec 
tionate  farewell." 

When  he  said  that  with  the  help  of  God  he  could  not 
fail,  there  was  vigorous  applause;  and  when,  with  deep 
emotion,  he  appealed  to  his  friends  and  neighbors  for  their 


LINCOLN  ELECTED  PRESIDENT  135 

prayers,  with  sobbing  voices  they  cried  out:  "We  will  do 
it!  Ws  will  do  it!'7  During  his  speech,  even  though  the 
snow  was  falling  fast,  every  hat  was  lifted  and  every  head 
eagerly  bent  forward  to  catch  his  words. 

As  the  train  moved  off,  Lincoln's  friends  watched  him 
standing  on  the  platform  and  taking  his  last  look  at  the 
town  where  he  had  spent  so  much  of  his  life. 

The  journey  to  Washington  occupied  twelve  days,  and 
was  crowded  with  interesting  and  dramatic  incidents. 
There  was  great  enthusiasm  all  along  the  way.  Through 
the  long  stretches  of  scattered  villages  and  towns,  people 
gathered  as  the  train  whirled  on,  cheering,  waving  hand 
kerchiefs,  and  tossing  hats  into  the  air.  Wherever  there 
were  stops,  men  and  women  crowded  to  shake  hands  with 
Mr.  Lincoln,  and  at  the  large  centres  of  Indianapolis,  Cin 
cinnati,  Columbus,  and  Pittsburgh,  formal  entertainments 
were  arranged  and  speeches  were  made.  The  presidential 
party  was  constantly  enlivened  along  the  route  by  dele 
gations  of  leading  citizens,  who  came  ahead  to  escort  the 
party  to  their  respective  cities.  In  this  way  the  company 
was  constantly  changing. 

Lincoln  took  three  days  to  get  through  New  York  State, 
stopping  for  elaborate  ceremonies  in  Albany  and  New  York 
City.  All  along  the  Eastern  route  there  were  the  same 
crowds  as  in  the  West,  with  booming  cannon,  gifts  of 
flowers,  receptions,  dinners,  and  luncheons  with  the  promi 
nent  officials.  Flags,  banners,  and  mottoes  all  bore  their 


136  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

part  in  giving  a  welcome  to  the  President-elect.  During 
this  joyous  progress  Lincoln  made  thirty  speeches,  which 
were  received  with  enthusiasm  by  those  who  listened 
to  them  and  with  strained  attention  by  the  press  of  the 
country. 

To  many,  however,  they  were  a  keen  disappointment. 
As  you  will  recall,  during  all  the  period  that  had  elapsed 
between  his  nomination  and  his  leaving  Springfield  he  had 
remained  silent  about  his  policies.  The  people  expected 
now  that  he  would  have  something  to  say  about  the  events 
that  were  distracting  the  country  and  the  measures  with 
which  he  would  meet  them.  To  many  of  them  his  speeches 
seemed  to  be  feeble  and  overcautious,  and  to  indicate  his 
unfit  ness  for  the  great  task  awaiting  him.  Some  wished  to 
hear  his  future  policy  outlined  in  vigorous  tones. 

The  press  was  especially  unfriendly  in  quoting  from  some 
of  his  speeches  such  words  as  the  following :  (At  Columbus) 
"It  is  a  good  thing  that  there  is  not  more  than  anxiety,  for 
there  is  nothing  going  wrong.  It  is  a  consoling  circumstance 
that  when  we  look  out,  there  is  nothing  that  really  hurts 
anybody."  (At  Pittsburgh)  "In  plain  words,  there  is 
really  no  crisis  except  an  artificial  one."  (At  Cleveland) 
"I  think  there  is  no  occasion  for  any  excitement.  ...  As 
I  said  before,  this  crisis  is  all  artificial !  It  has  no  founda 
tion  in  fact.  Let  it  alone,  and  it  will  go  down  itself." 

These  remarks,  made  by  the  man  who  was  soon  to  be 
come  President  of  the  United  States,  led  the  people  to  think 


LINCOLN   ELECTED   PRESIDENT 


137 


that  he  did  not  realize  the  gravity  of  the  situation.  But 
they  were  mistaken.  Separated  from  the  rest  of  the  speech, 
these  quotations  had  not  exactly  the  same  meaning  as  in 
their  proper  setting.  The  President-elect  did  realize  his 
difficulties  and  the  dan 
gers  to  the  country,  but 
he  did  not  wish  unduly 
to  stir  up  the  people  by 
dwelling  upon  them. 
Besides,  the  time  was 
not  ripe  to  declare  the 
sentiments  which  he 
wished  to  state  in  his 
inaugural  speech,  and  it 
did  not  seem  prudent  to 
announce  his  policy  un 
til  he  had  received  con 
trol  of  the  government. 

Notwithstanding  the 
criticism  of  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  speeches,  however,  the  common  people  continued  to 
greet  him  with  glowing  enthusiasm  all  along  the  way,  and 
the  journey  was  a  joyful  one  until  a  rumor  came  that 
there  was  a  plot  to  assassinate  him  when  he  passed  through 
Baltimore. 

When  Lincoln  and  his  party  reached  Philadelphia,  the 
noted  detective,  Allan  Pinkerton,  who  had  been  brought 


Jefferson  Davis. 


138  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

along  by  Mr.  Lincoln's  friends,  declared  that  there  was  good 
evidence  of  such  a  plot.  The  same  rumor  was  brought  by 
Seward's  son,  who  had  been  sent  by  his  father  from  Wash 
ington  to  Philadelphia,  to  warn  Mr.  Lincoln. 

At  first  Lincoln  refused  to  yield  to  those  who  advised 
him  to  change  his  plans  in  the  interest  of  his  personal 
safety;  but  finally  he  said  he  would  consider  the  matter, 
although  he  would  not  allow  it  to  interfere  with  his  en 
gagements.  According  to  his  original  schedule,  therefore 
he  attended  a  flag-raising  at  Independence  Hall,  in  Phila 
delphia,  early  on  the  morning  of  February  22,  and  then  went 
on  to  Harrisburg  to  address  the  Pennsylvania  legislature  in 
the  afternoon.  On  the  following  day,  according  to  the  orig 
inal  plan,  he  was  to  return  to  Philadelphia,  and  there  take 
a  train  through  Baltimore  to  Washington. 

But  in  Harrisburg,  to  avoid  needless  risk,  he  decided  to 
go  through  Baltimore  that  night.  So  at  six  o'clock  on  the 
evening  of  the  22d  he  left  the  dining-room  of  the  hotel  and 
went  to  his  apartments,  where  he  put  on  a  travelling-suit. 
His  wife  begged  to  go  with  him  and  share  his  danger,  but 
that  did  not  seem  wise,  and  he  was  obliged  to  leave  her  sob 
bing  in  fear  that  his  life  might  be  taken.  Going  out  by  a 
back  way  with  his  old  friend,  Ward  H.  Lamon,  who  used 
to  ride  the  circuit  with  him  in  Illinois,  he  entered  a  car 
riage  belonging  to  the  governor  of  Pennsylvania,  and  was 
driven  to  the  railroad-station,  where  the  two  boarded  a 
special  train,  and  were  soon  speeding  away  toward  Phila- 


LINCOLN  ELECTED  PRESIDENT 


139 


delphia,  there  to  take  the  regular  train  for  Washington. 
Mr.  Lincoln  quietly  entered  his  sleeping-car  and  went  to 
his  section  unnoticed.  About  six  o'clock  the  next  morn 
ing  they  were  in  Washington,  where  Air.  Seward  and  Mr. 
Washburne  met  them. 

There  is  no  proof 
that  a  plot  had  been 
laid  to  assassinate  Mr. 
Lincoln,  but  we  can 
not  doubt  his  wisdom 
in  taking  every  pre 
caution  in  the  face  of 
what  then  seemed  a 
real  danger  to  his  life. 
It  would  have  been  an 
irreparable  national 
calamity  if  he  had 
been  assassinated  at 
that  time. 

Lincoln  had  nine 
days  in  Washington 
before  his  inauguration,  days  filled  with  pressing  business, 
official  visits  and  visitors,  conferences  with  his  future  cabi 
net  members,  and  countless  other  matters. 

The  4th  of  March,  1861,  the  day  of  his  inauguration, 
was  bright  and  sunny.  At  the  appointed  hour  a  Senate 
committee  with  President  Buchanan  went  to  Willard's 


Mary  Todd  Lincoln. 


140  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Hotel,  where  Mr.  Lincoln  was  awaiting  them.  They  drove 
to  the  Capitol  in  a  barouche  drawn  by  six  horses.  Both 
sides  of  their  route  were  flanked  by  veteran  soldiers,  heav 
ily  armed;  to  prevent  any  possible  interference  with  the  in 
auguration,  for  there  were  heard  predictions  that  Lincoln 
would  never  become  President. 

The  inaugural  ceremonies  took  place  on  a  platform 
erected  at  the  east  portico  of  the  Capitol.  When  Lincoln 
stepped  out  on  the  platform  to  begin  his  address;  the  cheer 
ing  from  an  audience  which  was  more  curious  than  friendly 
was  only  half-hearted.  He  carried  in  one  hand  a  gold- 
headed  cane  and  in  the  other  a  new  silk  hat.  The  cane  he 
put  in  a  corner;  and  in  some  embarrassment  looked  for  a 
place  to  put  his  hat,  for  he  did  not  wish  to  lay  it  down  on 
the  floor.  While  Lincoln  stood  as  if  uncertain  what  to  do, 
and  the  immense  throng  were  watching  him  curiously,  his 
old  rival,  Stephen  A.  Douglas,  who  was  standing  just  be 
hind  him,  reached  out  his  hand  for  the  hat  and  held  it 
while  Lincoln  took  the  oath  of  office  and  delivered  his 
inaugural. 

As  Douglas  was  helping  Lincoln  out  of  his  difficulty, 
he  smilingly  whispered  to  one  of  Lincoln's  friends:  "If  I 
cannot  be  President,  I  can  at  least  hold  his  hat."  Douglas 
had  said  in  the  earlier  part  of  the  day  that  he  meant  to 
put  himself  as  prominently  forward  as  he  properly  could, 
in  order  to  make  it  clear  to  all,  Northerners  and  South 
erners  alike,  that  he  would  use  all  his  strength  and  ability 


LINCOLN   ELECTED   PRESIDENT  141 

to  support  the  new  administration  in  what  it  might  do  to 
save  the  Union.  This  simple  and  friendly  action  on  the 
part  of  the  patriotic  leader  of  the  Northern  Democrats 
attracted  much  attention. 

"Mr.  Lincoln  read  his  inaugural/'  said  Mr.  Herndon, 
"in  a  clear,  distinct,  and  musical  voice,  which  seemed  to 
be  heard  and  distinctly  understood  on  the  very  outskirts 
of  the  vast  concourse  of  his  fellow  citizens." 

In  the  course  of  this  inaugural,  which  is  now  famous, 
he  declared  that  no  State  upon  its  own  motion  could  law 
fully  go  out  of  the  Union,  and  that  to  the  extent  of  his 
ability  he  would  take  care,  as  the  Constitution  itself  ex 
pressly  enjoined  upon  him,  that  the  laws  of  the  Union  be 
faithfully  executed  in  all  the  States.  He  closed  with  the 
following  beautiful  and  impressive  words : 

"I  am  loath  to  close.  We  are  not  enemies  but  friends. 
We  must  not  be  enemies.  Though  passion  may  have 
strained,  it  must  not  break,  our  bonds  of  affection.  The 
mystic  chords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every  battle-field 
and  patriot  grave  to  every  living  heart  and  hearthstone  all 
over  this  broad  land,  will  yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union 
when  again  touched,  as  surely  they  will  be,  by  the  better 
angels  of  our  nature." 

To  the  surprise  of  many,  Lincoln  said  nothing  about 
slavery.  He  was  wise  in  omitting  mention  of  this  great 
issue,  for  another  and  more  momentous  one  was  now  before 
the  country  and  claimed  first  attention.  That  was  the 


142  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

preservation  of  the  Union.  It  was  upon  that  issue  that 
Lincoln  laid  emphasis,  not  so  much  with  the  expectation 
of  influencing  the  South  as  with  the  hope  of  effecting  a 
united  North  and  cementing  to  the  Union  the  powerful 
border  States,  which  it  was  so  necessary  that  he  should 
keep  loyal.  The  most  important  of  these  States  were 
Maryland,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri.  This  emphasis  upon 
the  preservation  of  the  Union  rather  than  upon  any  phase 
of  the  slavery  question  gives  evidence  to-day  of  Lincoln's 
remarkable  vision  and  practical  wisdom  as  a  statesman. 

The  oath  of  office  was  administered  by  Chief  Justice 
Taney,  and  immediately  batteries  of  guns  fired  a  national 
salute  to  the  chief.  Lincoln  was  then  escorted  by  Bu 
chanan,  through  the  multitudes  of  people,  to  the  executive 
mansion. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
LONELY   DAYS    IN   THE   \YHITE   HOUSE 

FATEFUL  crossing  of  a  threshold !  The  oath  had  com 
mitted  the  country  to  Lincoln's  keeping,  and  he  would 
carry  the  load  even  at  the  sacrifice  of  his  own  life.  The 
people  had  chosen  better  than  they  knew;  but  let  us  see 
with  what  sort  of  welcome  they  cheered  their  leader,  and 
what  support  they  held  out  to  make  his  burden  less  heavy. 

We  are  already  aware  that  he  was  little  known  at  the 
time  of  his  nomination;  that  during  the  four  months  of 
the  campaign  which  followed  he  took  no  active  part,  so  far 
as  his  countrymen  could  learn,  in  what  was  going  on.  We 
know  that  many  thought  that  his  speeches,  during  his  two 
weeks'  journey  to  Washington  just  before  his  inauguration, 
lacked  boldness,  vigor,  arid  breadth,  and  failed  to  indicate 
a  clear  grasp  of  the  perilous  situation.  To  their  minds,  the 
man  who  had  become  the  executive  head  of  the  nation  was 
unfit  for  his  great  task. 

Such  a  feeling  was  not  unnatural  in  those  who  did  not 
know  the  man,  for  Abraham  Lincoln  had  been  brought  up 
in  the  backwoods  in  the  midst  of  poverty  and  ignorance. 
He  himself  said  that  he  had  never  gone  to  school  a  year  in  his 
life.  He  was  also  untrained  and  untried.  The  only  execu 
tive  position  he  had  ever  filled  was  that  of  postmaster  in 

143 


144  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  little  village  of  New  Salem.  Certainly  the  Republican 
party  was  thrusting  a  rash  experiment  upon  the  country  in 
making  such  a  man  the  national  leader  in  a  time  of  so  great 
a  crisis.  The  country  was  on  the  verge  of  civil  war.  That 
Abraham  Lincoln,  the  rail-splitter  and  country  lawyer,  who 
had  thus  far  been  successful  mainly  as  a  clever  politician 
and  a  stump  speaker,  was  to  become  by  his  patience,  cour 
age,  judgment,  high  purpose,  unselfishness,  and  strength 
of  will  the  successful  leader  of  the  nation  through  this 
great  crisis,  nobody  could  know.  To  his  excited  critics 
it  even  appeared  foolhardy  in  him  to  be  willing  to  assume 
such  a  responsibility. 

Even  in  his  own  party  the  majority  of.  the  political 
leaders  held  this  view  when  he  became  President.  They 
had  not  yet  found  out  for  themselves  what  a  Southerner 
had  said  in  February,  1861 — that  Abraham  Lincoln  would 
do  his  own  thinking. 

Nor  did  the  members  of  his  Cabinet  know  him  any 
better.  Among  these  men  who  were  to  sit  at  his  council- 
table  and  advise  him  as  to  what  was  wise  to  do  were  four 
men — Seward,  Chase,  Bates,  and  Cameron — who  had  been 
his  rivals  for  the  presidency.  Some  of  his  friends  doubted 
the  wisdom  of  his  appointing  so  many  men  who  had  been 
his  own  rivals  and  rivals  of  one  another.  They  predicted 
trouble  in  bringing  about  the  harmonious  action  that  was 
absolutely  necessary.  But  Lincoln  answered:  "No,  gen 
tlemen,  the  times  are  too  grave  and  perilous  for  ambitious 


Lincoln  in  1861. 
From  a  photograph  owned  by  Allen  Jasper  Conant. 


145 


146  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

schemes  and  personal  rivalries.  I  need  the  aid  of  all  these 
men.  They  enjoy  the  confidence  of  their  several  States 
and  sections,  and  they  will  strengthen  the  administra 
tion." 

It  was  not  of  himself  but  of  the  best  interests  of  the 
country  that  he  was  constantly  thinking.  Since  his  su 
preme  ambition  was  to  give  his  best  service,  he  sought,  in 
making  appointments  to  his  Cabinet,  the  ablest  men,  and 
personal  feeling  did  not  enter  into  the  matter.  Edwin  M. 
Stanton,  who  had  violently  abused  him  during  the  first  part 
of  his  administration,  he  later  nominated  as  secretary  of 
war.  Lincoln  apparently  never  gave  Stanton's  criticism 
serious  thought,  for  he  believed  that  Stanton,  better  than 
any  one  else,  could  fill  that  important  position.  Guided, 
as  always,  by  impersonal  motives,  he  chose  a  Cabinet 
among  whose  members  there  was  not  a  single  personal 
friend,  not  one  whom  he  had  known  for  a  year.  This 
meant  that  there  was  no  understanding  mind,  no  friendly 
heart  in  which  he  could  confide,  and  that  the  burden  of  his 
decisions  he  must  carry  alone. 

As  many  of  the  Cabinet  members  were  men  of  very 
much  wider  experience  in  public  life  than  the  President,  it 
was  natural  that  they  should  feel  superior  to  him.  This 
was  especially  true  of  William  H.  Seward,  secretary  of 
state,  and  Salmon  P.  Chase,  secretary  of  the  treasury. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  one  of  the  delicate  and  trying  tasks 
which  lay  before  Mr.  Lincoln  was  to  show  these  two  men 


LONELY  DAYS  IN  THE   WHITE   HOUSE 


147 


that  they  were  in  reality  as  in  name  his  secretaries;  and 
that  he  was  in  reality  as  in  name  their  official  chief. 

Seward  was  the  first  of  all  the  Cabinet  to  learn  with 
something  of  a  shock  that  Lincoln  was  to  be  the  ruling 


Edwin  M.  Stanton. 

mind  in  the  new  administration.  It  seems  clear  that  at 
the  start  he  regarded  Lincoln  as  unfit  for  his  high  office, 
and  believed  that  he  himself,  as  occupying  the  first  place 
in  the  Cabinet,  and  as  the  most  powerful  leader  in  the 
Republican  party,  must  save  the  country  if  it  was  to  be 
saved  at  all.  Certainly,  from  his  point  of  view,  the  Presi 
dent  was  too  ignorant  and  weak  to  do  it.  So  at  first  Seward 


148  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

opposed  the  holding  of  any  Cabinet  meetings,  and  the 
President  yielded.  Then  it  was  planned  to  have  a  meet 
ing  on  Tuesdays  and  Fridays,  but  Seward  let  it  be  under 
stood  that  no  member  should  be  present  unless  he  were 
notified  by  the  President  or  himself.  Thus  it  would  be 
brought  about  that  only  those  whom  Seward  desired  would 
be  present,  and  he  would  hold  the  dominating  influence. 

In  the  meantime  Lincoln  was  doing  his  own  thinking 
and  reaching  his  own  decisions,  some  of  which  were  not  in 
accord  with  those  of  his  secretary  of  state;  but  Seward  did 
not  seem  to  realize  this  clearly.  His  belief  that  Lincoln 
was  incapable  of  administering  the  affairs  of  the  nation 
reached  a  climax  about  a  month  after  the  inauguration. 
About  April  1  he  suggested  in  writing  that  the  President 
allow  him  to  take  control  of  the  government  in  order  to 
save  the  country.  It  was  a  high-handed  attitude  to  as 
sume,  and  a  mortal  insult  to  Lincoln. 

In  his  letter  to  the  President  Seward  said:  "We  are  at 
the  end  of  a  month's  administration,  and  are  yet  without  a 
policy  either  domestic  or  foreign."  Then,  after  suggesting 
some  other  courses  of  action  which  might  be  followed  to 
advantage,  he  continued:  "But  whatever  policy  we  adopt 
there  must  be  an  energetic  prosecution  of  it.  For  this  pur 
pose  it  must  be  somebody's  business  to  pursue  and  direct 
it  incessantly.  Either  the  President  must  do  it  himself 
and  be  all  the  while  active  in  it;  or  devolve  it  upon  some 
member  of  his  Cabinet.  Once  adopted,  debates  on  it  must 


LONELY  DAYS  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE  149 

end  and  all  agree  to  abide  by  it.  It  is  not  my  special  prov 
ince,  but  I  neither  seek  to  evade  nor  to  assume  responsi 
bility." 

It  would  not  be  easy  to  imagine  the  feelings  of  the 
President  when  he  read  the  outrageous  suggestion  that  he 
turn  over  the  control  of  the  government  to  his  secretary  of 
state.  If  Seward,  occupying  the  first  place  in  the  Cabinet, 
and  therefore  having  the  best  chance  to  know  him,  had 
such  an  opinion  of  the  weakness  of  his  chief,  what  must  be 
the  views  of  the  other  Cabinet  members?  What  must  be 
the  views  of  the  leaders  of  public  opinion  in  general? 

But  Lincoln  felt  no  hesitation  as  to  how  he  should  reply 
to  Seward.  Although  modest,  he  was  never  self-distrustful. 
Even  in  the  troubled  days  to  follow,  he  had  always  the 
strength  of  a  quiet  confidence  in  himself.  On  the  day 
that  Seward 's  note  reached  him  he  sent  his  answer.  This 
was  tactful,  kind,  and  firm,  but  there  was  no  doubt  as  to 
its  meaning.  "Upon  your  closing  proposition/'  he  wrote, 
"that  'Whatever  policy  we  adopt  there  must  be  an  ener 
getic  prosecution  of  it.  For  this  purpose  it  must  be  some 
body's  business  to  pursue  and  direct  it  incessantly.  Either 
the  President  must  do  it  himself,  or  devolve  it  on  some 
member  of  his  Cabinet' — I  remark  that  if  this  must  be 
done,  I  must  do  it.  When  a  general  line  of  policy  is  adopted; 
I  apprehend  there  is  no  danger  of  its  being  changed  without 
good  reason,  or  continuing  to  be  a  subject  of  unnecessary 
debate;  still,  upon  points  arising  in  its  progress,  I  wish,  and 


150  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

suppose  I  am  entitled  to  have,  the  advice  of  all  the  Cabinet." 
In  effect  this  letter  said :  "As  President  of  the  United  States, 
I  have  a  work  to  do  and  no  one  else  can  do  it  for  me." 

So  far  as  has  been  learned,  this  affair  never  reached  the 
ears  of  any  other  member  of  Lincoln's  Cabinet,  or  even  the 
most  intimate  of  his  friends.  Only  his  private  secretary, 
John  G.'  Nicolay,  knew  anything  about  it.  It  no  doubt 
showed  Secretary  Seward  how  serious  a  fault  he  had  com 
mitted,  and  it  gave  him  a  new  insight  into  the  character 
of  his  chief.  From  that  day  he  became  a  loyal  and  de 
voted  follower  of  the  President,  and  brought,  in  unstinted 
measure,  his  tireless  energy  and  wide  influence  to  the  sup 
port  of  Lincoln. 

With  our  knowledge  of  Lincoln  it  is  difficult  to  under 
stand  how  Seward  could  have  made  so  stupendous  a  blunder; 
but  his  purpose  was  patriotic,  and  he  was  only  a  conspicu 
ous  example  of  what  many  other  men  in  public  life  thought 
at  that  time.  That  he  quickly  and  completely  altered  his 
judgment  is  shown  in  a  letter  written  two  months  later  to 
his  wife,  in  which  he  declared:  "Executive  force  and  vigor 
are  rare  qualities.  The  President  is  the  best  of  us." 

Immediately  after  Lincoln  became  President,  an  occa 
sion  arose  when  he  thought  best  to  make  a  decision  contrary 
to  the  advice  of  those  high  in  office.  It  concerned  Fort 
Sumter.  This  fort,  which  was  in  Charleston  harbor,  was 
one  of  the  few  in  the  seceded  States  which  the  Confederates 
had  not  seized  in  February.  A  small  force  of  less  than  one 


LONELY  DAYS  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE 


151 


hundred  men,  under  the  command  of  Major  Anderson,  occu 
pied  it.     The  day  after  his  inauguration,  March  5,  Lincoln 


Lincoln  and  His  Secretaries,  Nicolay  and  Hay. 

had  received  a  request  from  Major  Anderson  for  food. 
There  was  enough  to  last  only  four  weeks.  Lincoln  imme 
diately  consulted  General  Scott,  who  thought  it  would  be 


152  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

impossible,  with  the  means  at  his  command,  to  comply. 
Most  of  the  members  of  his  Cabinet,  including  Seward,  ad 
vised  against  it.  But  to  Lincoln's  mind  there  was  only  one 
thing  to  do.  The  policy  of  holding  or  retaking  the  forts 
had  been  plainly  set  forth  in  his  inaugural,  and  he  did  not 
propose  to  go  back  on  his  word.  An  expedition  with  food 
was  sent,  and  the  governor  of  South  Carolina  was  informed 
that  it  carried  food  alone.  This  assurance  was  sent  to 
avoid  any  possible  misunderstanding  as  to  hostile  intent, 
for  the  President  was  loath  to  start  an  open  rupture  with 
the  seceded  States. 

The  Confederates,  however,  restless  under  inaction  and 
determined  that  Fort  Sumter  should  not  be  even  provi 
sioned,  attacked  the  fort  with  several  thousand  troops. 
Before  the  Union  fleet  could  arrive,  in  the  early  morning 
of  April  12,  the  firing  began  and  continued  for  thirty-four 
hours. 

At  last  the  wooden  barracks  were  set  on  fire  by  hot 
shot.  The  flames  spread  beyond  control.  The  heat  and 
smoke  drove  the  men  in  the  garrison  to  lie  flat  on  the 
ground,  with  wet  cloths  on  their  mouths,  to  keep  from  suf 
focating.  With  food  and  powder  almost  gone  and  flag 
staff  shot  away,  the  garrison  had  to  surrender.  The  Con 
federates,  admiring  the  courage  of  this  handful  of  men, 
allowed  them  to  retire  from  the  fort,  bearing  their  arms. 
Just  before  leaving  they  fired  a  salute  of  fifty  guns,  and 
marched  out  with  colors  flying  and  the  band  playing 


LONELY   DAYS   IX   THE   WHITE   HOUSE  153 

"Yankee  Doodle."     It  was  thus  that  the  first  shots  of  the 
Civil  War  were  exchanged. 

The  firing  upon  Fort  Sumter  startled  the  nation.     It- 
was  the  beginning  of  war,  of  what  might  prove  to  be  a  long 


Interior  of  Fort  Sumter  after  the  Bombardment. 

and  bloody  war.  President  Lincoln  acted  with  promptness 
and  decision  by  calling  for  seventy-five  thousand  men  and 
appealing  to  all  loyal  citizens  for  support.  He  declared  the 
South  under  blockade. 

For  the  moment  all  differences  of  opinion  were  smothered 
in  a  great  wave  of  patriotism;  and  the  people  of  the  North, 
united  by  a  deep  desire  to  preserve  the  Union,  responded 
to  the  call  of  their  President  with  genuine  enthusiasm. 


154  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Money,  credit,  supplies  of  all  sorts  were  offered  the  govern 
ment. 

Both  North  and  South  began  rapidly  to  organize  armies 
for  the  bitter  conflict  which  now  seemed  inevitable.  Sev 
eral  slave  States,  including  the  border  States,  refused  to 
respond  to  Lincoln.  Virginia,  North  Carolina,  Tennessee, 
and  Arkansas  seceded.  The  hostile  lines  were  close  to  the 
borders  of  Washington.  There  was  general  alarm.  Mothers 
and  children  were  leaving  the  city.  Mrs.  Lincoln  was 
urged  to  go.  "No,"  she  replied,  "I  am  as  safe  as  Mr. 
Lincoln,  and  I  shall  not  leave  him."  Then  the  troops  ar 
rived,  and  Washington  was  safe. 

In  their  eagerness  to  attack,  the  people  grew  impatient, 
but  the  raw  troops  had  to  be  drilled  and  made  ready.  To 
this  task,  before  July  1,  General  McDowell  was  appointed, 
being  put  at  the  head  of  the  Union  army  gathered  in  and 
about  Washington.  The  Confederate  army,  under  Gen 
eral  Beauregard,  was  stationed  around  Manassas,  near  Bull 
Run,  about  thirty-five  miles  away,  within  easy  striking  dis 
tance.  Daily  the  clamor  of  the  North  grew  stronger  for  a 
march  to  the  Confederate  capital.  "On  to  Richmond!" 
was  the  loud  outcry  of  the  people.  Still  General  Scott 
and  other  Union  generals  insisted  that  the  army  was  not 
ready.  But  at  last  Lincoln,  yielding  to  the  urgent  de 
mand  of  the  country,  ordered  that  the  advance  be  made. 

On  the  day  of  the  battle  of  Bull  Run  (July  21,  1861) 
McDowell's  army  at  first  drove  back  the  Confederates. 


LONELY   DAYS  IN   THE   WHITE   HOUSE 


155 


But  during  their  retreat  word  came  that  the  Southern 
army  was  reinforced.  This  news,  which  came  about  four 
o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  brought  panic  to  the  Union  army. 
A  stampede  followed,  which  soon  became  a  rout.  Men 
fled  for  their  lives.  Teamsters  cut  their  traces  and  rode 


Ruins  of  Stone  Bridge,  Where  the  Bull  Run  Stampede  Took  Place. 

away  on  their  horses.     Soldiers  flung  aside  their  muskets 
and  knapsacks  and  ran.     The  army  became  a  mob. 

Deep  gloom  settled  over  Washington  that  night,  for  the 
defeat  was  a  great  blow  to  the  Union  cause.  It  fell  with 
cruel  severity  upon  President  Lincoln.  The  early  news  of 
the  battle  had  been  hopeful,  and  he  was  expecting  a  victory. 
So,  believing  that  all  was  going  well,  he  had  dropped  his 
work  and  gone  for  his  afternoon  drive.  Imagine  the  shock 


156  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

of  receiving  on  his  return  the  message:  " General  McDow 
ell's  army  in  full  retreat  from  Centreville.  The  day  is  lost. 
Save  Washington  and  the  remnants  of  this  army.7'  It  was 
feared  that  the  Confederates  would  attack  Washington  be 
fore  morning.  Through  the  drizzling  rain  crowds  of  sol 
diers,  negroes,  and  terrified  horses  came  fleeing  into  the  city, 
increasing  the  horror  of  the  situation. 

Although  the  lonely  man  of  the  White  House  suffered 
keenly  in  this  bitter  trial,  he  remained  calm  and  composed. 
In  the  sleepless  night  following  this  battle  his  busy  mind 
was  working  out  plans  by  which  to  retrieve  the  disaster. 
With  all  his  heart  he  pitied  the  young,  untried  soldiers 
who  had  failed  to  stand  under  the  terrible  fire  of  their  first 
battle,  and  on  Tuesday  he  found  time  to  visit  the  camp 
lying  south  of  the  Potomac.  There  he  spoke  wilh  tender 
feeling  and  encouragement  to  the  "boys  in  blue/'  who  two 
days  before  had  fled,  panic-stricken,  from  the  battle-field 
of  Bull  Run. 

This  defeat  was  actually  more  wholesome  for  the  North 
than  wras  the  victory  for  the  South.  For  the  South  was 
overconfident.  Many  Southern  soldiers  began  to  return 
to  their  homes  as  if  the  war  were  over.  But  that-  was  a 
great  mistake.  It  had  only  just  begun.  In  the  North  the 
people  were  nerved  to  greater  energy,  for  it  was  clear  now 
that  the  issue  could  be  settled  only  by  war.  The  day  fol 
lowing  the  battle,  Congress,  standing  back  of  the  President, 
voted  to  raise  an  army  of  five  hundred  thousand  men. 


LONELY  DAYS  IN  THE  WHITE   HOUSE 


157 


Not  only  did  troubles  within  the  country  weigh  heavily 
upon  the  President,  but  international  complications  also 
arose.  The  "Trent  Affair"  was  a  difficulty  coming  out  of 
the  unwarranted  action  upon  the  high  seas  of  a  Union  navy 
officer.  The  trouble,  briefly  stated,  was  this:  To  secure 
aid  for  the  Southern  cause,  two  envoys,  Mason  and  Slidell, 


Long  Bridge,  Washington,  over  Which  the  Troops  Ran  Panic-Stricken  from  the 
Battle-Field  of  Bull  Run 

had  been  sent  by  the  Confederate  government  as  commis 
sioners  to  England  and  France.  They  eluded  the  blockade 
at  Charleston  and  took  passage  at  Havana  on  the  British 
mail-steamer  Trent.  Captain  Wilkes,  of  the  United  States 
war-vessel  San  Jacinto,  stopped  the  Trent  off  the  Bahama 
Islands  (November  8,  1861),  took  off  Mason  and  Slidell,  and 
later  confined  them  in  Fort  Warren  in  Boston  harbor. 

For  this  act  Captain  Wilkes  was  warmly  applauded  by 
the  Northern  people,  who  looked  upon  him  as  a  national 


158  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

hero.  The  secretary  of  the  navy  sent  him  a  letter  of 
congratulation,  the  secretary  of  war  openly  praised  him, 
and  the  House  of  Representatives  passed  a  unanimous  vote 
of  thanks  to  him.  But  England  was  highly  indignant  and 
at  once  began  to  make  preparations  for  war.  She  sent 
troops  and  war-vessels  to  Canada,  and  with  unnecessary 
earnestness  demanded  that  the  prisoners  be  given  up. 

When  the  capture  of  Mason  and  Slidell  was  reported 
to  President  Lincoln,  he  at  once  declared  that  "it  did  not 
look  right  for  Captain  Wilkes  to  stop  the  vessel  of  a  friendly 
power  on  the  high  seas,  and  take  out  of  her,  by  force,  pas 
sengers  who  went  on  board  in  one  neutral  port  to  be  •car 
ried  to  another. "  Although  he  would  have  liked  to  up 
hold  Wilkes,  Secretary  Seward,  an  expert  in  international 
law,  reassured  him  in  his  first  impression  by  telling  him 
that  we  had  always  contended  against  England  for  the 
very  principle  which  had  been  violated  by  the  captain, 
and  that  by  refusing  to  come  to  a  satisfactory  agreement 
with  England,  we  should  bring  on  war  with  that  country. 

Lincoln,  with  his  strong  common  sense  and  his  clear 
ideas  of  international  right  and  justice,  found  it  easy  to 
reach  a  wise  decision.  He  gave  up  the  prisoners  to  Eng 
land,  with  the  statement  that  Captain  Wilkes  had  acted 
without  the  authority  of  the  United  States.  This  was  not 
only  high  statesmanship  but  added  greatly  to  his  personal 
fame.  He  had  the  responsibility  for  these  momentous  de 
cisions,  and  he  rightly  has  the  credit  for  them.  Through- 


LONELY  DAYS  IN  THE  WHITE  HOUSE 


159 


out  the  war  he  was  a  master  in  dealing  with  complex  in 
ternational  affairs. 

The  Trent  Affair  was  but  one  of  the  many  troubles 
which  gathered  thick  and  fast  about  Lincoln  in  his  manage 
ment  of  the  terrible  Civil 
War;  and  there  must  have 
been  many  times  when  he 
longed  for  a  closer  com 
panionship  in  carrying  the 
heavy  responsibilities  of 
these  distracting  first 
months  in  the  White  House, 
many  times  when  his  soul 
cried  out  in  its  loneliness. 

Then,  while  public  cares 
were  so  exacting  and  public 
criticism  so  scorching,  Lin 
coln  had  also  a  very  heavy 
personal  sorrow  to  endure. 
The  first  winter  that  he 

spent  in  the  White  House  his  two  little  boys,  Willie  and 
Tad,  one  ten  years  old  and  the  other  eight,  fell  ill,  and 
Willie's  condition  became  critical.  Daily  the  President, 
leaving  his  office,  spent  all  the  time  he  could  at  the  bedside 
of  the  sick  child,  and  at  night  he  often  took  the  nurse's 
place.  When  the  end  came  the  father  was  almost  heart 
broken,  and  his  grief  was  well-nigh  unbearable.  "My  poor 


Tad  Lincoln. 


160 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


boy/'  he  murmured,  as  he  stood  by  the  bedside  of  the  dead 
child,  shedding  bitter  tears.  "He  was  too  good  for  this 
earth.  God  has  called  him  home.  I  know  he  is  much 
better  off  in  heaven,  but  we  loved  him  so.  It  is  hard, 

hard,  to  have  him  die.'7 
But  the  loss  of  Willie 
seemed  to  make  the  father 
cherish  more  tenderly  the 
little  fellow  who  was  left. 
Tad  was  with  his  father 
much  of  the  time,  never 
hesitating  to  break  in  upon 
him  even  in  the  midst  of 
the  gravest  labors  or  the 
most  important  confer 
ences,  sometimes  slipping 
into  his  father's  lap  or 
perching  on  his  shoulder. 
It  is  said  that  at  the  end 
of  every  day  Tad  came 

into  his  father's  office,  climbed  into  his  father's  lap,  and  told 
the  story  of  what  he  had  seen  and  done  since  early  morning. 
As  a  rule,  he  kept  on  with  his  childish  prattle  until  he 
finally  fell  asleep  in  his  father's  arms.  Then  the  President 
would  gently  lay  him  down  near  his  chair  and  go  on  with 
his  work.  When  he  had  finished  he  would  gather  up  the 
sleeping  child  in  his  arms  and  carry  him  off  to  bed. 


Willie  Lincoln. 


LONELY  DAYS   IX  THE   WHITE   HOUSE  161 

This  gives  but  a  glimpse  of  the  tender  love  that  Lincoln 
had  for  children,  not  only  his  own  but  all  others.  It  is 
said  that  on  one  occasion,  when  there  wras  a  reception  in 
the  White  House,  three  little  girls,  poorly  clad,  followed  the 
crowd  as  they  entered  the  Executive  Mansion.  Strolling 
through  the  building  with  childish  curiosity,  they  .came  into 
the  great  reception-room,  where  the  people  were  greeting 
the  President.  They  were  hurrying  through  in  some  con 
fusion  when  Lincoln  observed  them.  "  Aren't  you  going 
to  shake  hands  with  me,  little  girls?"  he  said.  Then,  to 
the  surprise  of  all  who  were  present  and  to  the  great  de 
light  of  the  little  girls,  he  stooped  over  and  warmly  shook 
hands  with  each. 

Another  incident  is  told  which  reveals  Lincoln's  love  for 
children.  While  on  the  way  to  Gettysburg,  just  before 
making  the  Gettysburg  address,  at  one  of  the  railroad  sta 
tions  a  beautiful  little  girl  handed  him  through  the  open 
window  of  his  car  a  bunch  of  rosebuds.  As  she  did  so  she 
lisped:  "Flowerth  for  the  Prethident."  Mr.  Lincoln,  tak 
ing  the  rosebuds,  and  bending  over  to  kiss  the  child,  said 
gently:  "You  are  a  sweet  rosebud  yourself!  I  hope  you 
will  open  into  peipetual  beauty  and  goodness!" 

In  such  simple,  human  ways  did  the  lonely  man  in  the 
White  House  find  a  solace  for  his  sorrows  and  give  expres 
sion  to  that  which  was  finest  and  noblest  in  his  nature. 


CHAPTER  IX 
LINCOLN  AND   THE   EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION 

As  you  will  recall,  in  his  inaugural  address  on  March 
4,  1861,  it  was  not  slavery  that  President  Lincoln  empha 
sized  but  the  preservation  of  the  Union.  This  continued 
to  be  his  chief  aim.  He  believed  that  upon  that  great  issue 
he  could  keep  the  people  of  the  Northern  States  united. 
He  also  knew  that  in  the  border  States,  Maryland,  Ken 
tucky,  and  Missouri,  there  were  many  pro-slavery  men  who 
were  also  pro-Union  men,  and  it  was  a  matter  of  the  first 
importance  to  prevent  these  States  from  joining  the  ranks 
of  secession.  " These  all  against  us,"  he  said,  "and  the  job 
on  our  hands  is  too  large  for  us.  We  would  as  well  consent  to 
separation  at  once,  including  the  surrender  of  the  capital." 
He  felt  sure  that,  if  he  should  interfere  with  slavery  within 
their  borders,  they  would  be  likely  to  go  out  of  the  Union. 

But  with  this  cautious  policy  all  his  subordinates  did 
not  agree,  and  two  of  his  generals  took  matters  into  their 
own  hands.  On  August  30,  1861,  General  Fremont,  who 
held  command  in  the  Western  Department,  declared  mar 
tial  law  there,  and  at  the  same  time  stated  that  the  slaves 
of  men  who  were  fighting  against  the  Union  were  free  men. 
This  was  going  quite  beyond  his  rightful  authority,  and 
Lincoln,  refusing  to  approve  the  order,  declared  it  void. 

162 


THE  EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION  163 

He  believed  that  to  take  such  a  step  would  turn  the  balance 
in  the  wavering  border  States  in  favor  of  secession.  In  the 
following  May  another  commander,  General  Hunter,  de 
clared  the  slaves  free  in  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  and  Flor 
ida.  Again  Lincoln  refused  to  approve,  and  the  order  was 
made  void. 

In  refusing  to  sanction  the  drastic  actions  of  Fremont 
and  Hunter,  the  President  met  with  bitter  criticism  from 
many  radical  anti-slavery  men.  They  mercilessly  cen 
sured  him.  They  insisted  that  he  was  too  cautious;  that 
his  policy  was  lame  and  halting;  that  he  himself  was  not  a 
bold  and  heroic  executive,  such  as  the  momentous  issues  of 
the  hour  demanded. 

But  Lincoln,  though  sensitive  to  such  criticisms,  did  not 
waver.  The  plan  which  he  began  to  lay  before  the  people, 
before  the  war  had  been  going  on  for  a  year,  was  gradual 
emancipation  of  the  slaves,  compensation  of  the  owners, 
and  colonization  of  the  negroes  after  they  had  received 
their  freedom.  If  any  State  should  agree  to  this  plan, 
Congress  was  to  vote  the  money  to  make  good  to  the  slave 
owners  the  loss  of  their  property,  and  in  the  course  of  a 
term  of  years  the  slaves  in  any  State  agreeing  to  the  plan 
would  be  made  free.  Such  a  measure  the  President  be 
lieved  would  be  fair  to  all.  Should  the  border  States  fall 
in  with  it,  they  would  be  putting  themselves  cordially  on 
the  side  of  the  North  to  preserve  the  Union.  As  it  was, 
they  were  acrimoniously  divided,  with  the  majority  prob- 


164  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

ably  favoring  secession,  and  only  sheer  military  force  held 
them  in  the  Union. 

This  plan  was  urged  upon  Congress  by  Lincoln  in  a 
special  message  early  in  March,  1862;  and  he  made  a 
strong  appeal  for  it  to  the  senators  and  representatives 
from  the  border  States  especially.  But  these  opposed  it 
so  bitterly  that  the  rest  of  Congress  would  not  take  it  up. 

During  all  these  months,  although  Lincoln  hated  slavery 
as  strongly  as  ever,  and  although  he  knew  it  was  at  the 
root  of  the  secession  trouble,  he  held  to  the  view  set  forth 
in  his  inaugural  address  that  even  Congress  had  no  con 
stitutional  right  to  interfere  with  slavery  in  any  States 
where  it  already  existed.  And  as  for  himself,  no  act  of 
his  upon  it  would  have  had  the  slightest  legal  weight,  ex 
cept  as  a  war  necessity  accepted  by  Congress. 

In  the  meantime,  however,  the  anti-slavery  feeling  was 
growing  in  the  North.  This  fact  was  made  evident  by  two 
laws  that  were  passed  in  1862.  One,  enacted  in  April,  pro 
vided  for  the  emancipation  of  slaves  in  the  District  of 
Columbia,  with  payment  of  a  moderate  compensation  to 
the  owners;  the  other,  passed  in  June,  was  an  act  to  secure 
the  freedom  of  all  persons  within  the  Territories. 

The  war  was  still  growing  in  intensity,  and  the  Union 
forces,  especially  in  the  East,  were  making  but  little  head 
way.  Four  days  after  the  battle  of  Bull  Run  General 
George  B.  McClellan  had  been  put  at  the  head  of  all  the 
Union  armies  under  the  President,  who  was  commander-in- 


Lincoln  at  General  McClellan's  Headquarters. 


1C  .5 


166  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

chief;  and  had  been  placed  in  command  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac,  which  was  intended  for  the  defense  of  Washing 
ton  and  the  capture  of  Richmond.  General  McClellan  was 
only  thirty-four  years  old,  but  he  had  had  excellent  train 
ing,  at  West  Point  and  in  the  Crimean  War,  for  his  respon 
sible  position,  and  had  won  distinction  by  a  successful 
campaign  in  West  Virginia.  He  had  the  full  confidence  of 
the  President,  who  was  desirous  of  co-operating  in  every 
possible  way.  By  the  opening  of  the  spring  campaign  in 
1862,  McClellan  had,  by  thorough  organization  and  drill, 
created  a  splendid  army. 

But  the  people  of  the  North  were  not  satisfied.  They 
had  long  been  impatient  for  action  and  were  clamoring  for 
McClellan  to  push  on  to  Richmond.  It  was  not  merely  to 
shorten  the  time  of  burdens  and  losses,  but  because  every 
week's  delay  convinced  the  European  nations  more  and 
more  that  the  North  could  never  conquer  the  South,  and 
that  to  save  business  and  civilization  alike  they  must  in 
tervene.  Even  a  year  later,  just  before  Gettysburg,  a 
great  English  writer  published  a  history  to  come  down  to 
"the  disruption  of  the  United  States." 

President  Lincoln  himself  was  quite  as  impatient  as 
anybody.  Although  McClellan  knew  all  this,  he  still  held 
the  Union  army  in  camp.  Day  after  day  the  people  read  in 
the  newspapers:  "All  is  quiet  on  the  Potomac/'  and  they 
wondered  why  no  move  was  made.  To  those  who  under 
stood  just  what  was  going  on  in  Washington,  it  was  clear 


THE  EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION  167 

that  the  President  and  the  general  could  not  agree  as  to 
what  should  be  done.  Conference  followed  conference. 
Lincoln  went  to  headquarters,  and  McClellan  was  called 
to  Cabinet  meetings. 

The  actual  reason  why  McClellan  delayed  his  advance 
was  twofold.  In  the  first  place,  he  had  no  faith  in  his  half- 
trained  army's  fighting  power,  feared  more  Bull  Runs,  and 
was  resolved  not  to  give  battle  till  sure  of  success;  as  was 
said  later,  he  wished  to  "organize  victory."  In  the  second 
place,  he  always  enormously  overestimated  the  Confed 
erate  forces  against  him,  and  listened  too  credulously  to 
every  frightened  or  traitorous  story  of  their  great  armies. 

Moreover,  he  believed  himself  the  one  capable  officer 
of  the  country,  and  not  only  thought  but  said  and  wrote 
that  the  salvation  of  the  country  depended  on  him  alone. 
He  would  take  suggestions  from  nobody,  even  his  mili 
tary  superior;  much  more  did  he  assume  that  those  of 
civilians  were  simply  worthless.  "I  was  obliged  to  attend 
a  Cabinet  meeting/'  he  wrote  to  his  wife,  "and  was  bored 
and  annoyed.  There  are  some  of  the  greatest  geese  in  the 
Cabinet  I  have  ever  seen — enough  to  tax  the  patience  of 
Job." 

It  was  not  long  before  he  began  to  show  gross  dis 
respect  to  the  President  himself.  At  times  he  kept  Mr. 
Lincoln  waiting  in  the  anteroom  of  his  house  while  he 
attended  to  business  matters  with  others.  Lincoln  was  not 
slow  to  observe  these  discourtesies,  but  he  overlooked  the 


168  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

outrageous  treatment  rather  than  risk  impairing  McClel 
land  zeal  or  influence  by  a  quarrel.  With  that  utter  ab 
sence  of  self-pride  and  devotion  to  duty  which  were  large 
elements  of  his  greatness  and  usefulness,  he  said:  "I  will 
hold  McClellan's  horse  if  he  will  only  bring  us  success." 

Lincoln  recommended  that  an  advance  be  made  on 
Richmond  overland  from  the  north,  in  order  to  keep  the 
Union  army  between  the  Confederates  and  Washington. 
McClellan  objected,  knowing  there  were  many  rivers  to  be 
crossed,  every  one  of  which  could,  for  defensive  purposes, 
be  made  a  Confederate  stronghold.  At  last  Lincoln  con 
sented  that  McClellan  might  approach  Richmond  by  way  of 
the  peninsula  between  the  James  and  the  York  Rivers,  but 
on  the  express  condition  that  enough  troops  should  be 
left  behind  to  prevent  the  national  capital  from  falling  into 
the  hands  of  the  Confederates.  In  this  he  was  not  inter 
fering  in  military  matters,  but  taking  only  necessary  polit 
ical  precautions.  For  the  country  demanded  such  protec 
tion  ;  and  Confederate  possession  of  Washington  even  for  a 
week  would  have  been  an  excuse  for  European  nations  at 
once  to  recognize  the  Confederacy  and  end  the  war. 

No  sooner  had  McClellan  gone  South  than  the  Presi 
dent's  war  council  induced  him  to  withdraw  McDowell's 
corps  of  forty  thousand  men  to  protect  Washington,  on 
the  ground  that  McClellan  had  not  kept  his  agreement. 
As  McClellan  relied  on  this  corps  to  flank  the  Confederate 
army  in  Virginia  and  leave  his  march  on  Richmond  un- 


Allan  Pinkerton.  President  Lincoln. 

On  the  Battle-Field  of  Antietam. 
From  a  photograph  by  Brady, 


General  McClernand. 


1C9 


170  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

opposed^  he  regarded  this  as  ruining  his  campaign,  and 
never  ceased  to  declare  later  that  it  did  so. 

Having  reached  Fortress  Monroe  by  water,  McClellan 
started  from  there  early  in  April,  1862,  and  advanced  up 
the  peninsula  to  Yorktown,  to  which  he  laid  siege,  instead 
of  attempting  to  capture  it  by  assault  at  once.  This  de 
layed  the  army  an  entire  month  and  was  needless,  for  the 
opposing  force  was  not  a  third  the  size  of  his  own.  But 
even  after  that  serious  loss  of  time  it  took  him  nearly  two 
months  to  get  within  ten  miles  of  Richmond.  He  kept 
constantly  protesting  that  his  army  was  too  small  for  him 
to  do  what  was  expected  of  him,  and  that  he  was  not  re 
ceiving  from  the  administration  the  proper  support. 

But  at  last,  by  the  end  of  May,  he  was  within  striking 
distance  of  Richmond,  waiting  for  the  arrival  of  McDowell 
and  his  army,  now  promised  him  once  more  and  marching 
south  from  Fredericksburg,  not  far  off.  But  when  one 
division  had  reached  him,  the  rest  of  the  corps  was  or 
dered  back  to  guard  Washington  again;  for  in  order  to 
prevent  this  junction,  "  Stone  wall"  Jackson  had  swept 
down  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  then  called  the  "back  door 
to  Washington,"  and  was  thought  to  threaten  the  city. 

McClellan  was  bitterly  disappointed,  especially  since 
he  had  halted  his  advance  to  wait  for  the  new  troops.  He 
was  within  five  miles  of  Richmond,  and  could  see  its  church 
spires.  His  forces  were  still  far  in  excess  of  the  Confed 
erates,  who  in  fact  had  prepared  to  evacuate  the  city. 


THE   EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION  171 

But  believing  that  the  Confederate  army  was  twice  as 
large  as  his  own,  he  let  them  attack  him  first.  The  result 
was  that  he  had  to  retreat  and  change  his  base  of  supplies 
to  the  James  River. 

In  deep  depression  he  telegraphed  during  his  retreat 
to  Secretary  Stanton  at  Washington:  "I  know  that  a  few 
thousand  more  men  would  have  changed  this  battle  from 
a  defeat  to  a  victory.  As  it  is,  the  government  must  not 
and  cannot  hold  me  responsible  for  the  result.  I  feel  too 
earnestly  to-night.  I  have  seen  too  many  dead  and  wounded 
comrades  to  feel  otherwise  than  that  the  government  has 
not  sustained  this  army.  If  you  do  not  do  so  now,  the 
game  is  lost.  If  I  save  this  army  now,  I  tell  you  plainly 
that  I  owe  no  thanks  to  you  or  to  any  persons  in  Washing 
ton.  You  have  done  your  best  to  sacrifice  this  army." 

"Save  your  army  at  all  events/'  Lincoln  replied,  with 
remarkable  tolerance  and  self-restraint.  "  .  .  .1  feel  any 
misfortune  to  you  and  your  army  quite  as  keenly  as 
you  feel  it  yourself.  If  you  have  had  a  drawn  battle,  or 
a  repulse,  it  is  the  price  we  pay  for  the  enemy  not  being  in 
Washington.  We  protected  Washington,  and  the  enemy 
concentrated  on  you.  Had  we  stripped  Washington,  he 
would  have  been  upon  us  before  the  troops  could  have 
gotten  to  you." 

Stanton  had  less  control  over  his  temper.  He  said: 
"If  we  gave  McClellan  a  million  men,  he  would  sit  down 
in  the  mud  and  yell  for  two."  It  is  believed  by  some  mili- 


172  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

tary  critics  that  there  were  enough  men  to  protect  Wash 
ington  without  McDowell's  troops,  and  that  by  recalling 
them  Lincoln  prevented  McClellan  from  attaining  the 
great  purpose  of  his  campaign — the  capture  of  Richmond. 
However  that  may  be,  the  Peninsular  Campaign  failed 
and  caused  bitter  disappointment  in  the  North. 

The  failure  was  keenly  felt  by  Lincoln  also.  In  the 
midst  of  the  gloom  and  dismay  which  settled  upon  the 
North,  he  visited  McClellan  at  Harrison's  Landing  early 
in  July,  believing  that  he  could  in  this  way  get  more  accu 
rate  information  of  the  actual  conditions  than  was  possible 
from  McClellan's  letters  and  reports.  When  Lincoln  clearly 
saw  the  true  military  situation,  he  made  up  his  mind  that 
some  drastic  measure  should  be  adopted  to  strengthen  the 
Union  cause.  He  was  now  ready  to  take  definite  steps 
toward  emancipating  the  slaves  within  the  Confederate 
lines  as  a  war  measure.  It  seemed  absolutely  necessary 
in  order  to  save  the  Union. 

It  is  said  that  he  finally  decided  upon  the  Emancipation 
Proclamation  while  on  the  boat,  July  8,  on  his  return  from 
his  visit  to  McClellan's  headquarters.  Four  days  later  he 
had  a  conference  at  the  White  House  with  the  border  State 
representatives.  He  earnestly  urged  them  to  adopt  his 
policy  and  accept  compensation  for  their  slaves.  He  re 
minded  them  of  the  hope  entertained  by  States  which  were 
in  rebellion  "that  their  sister  slave  communities  would  join 
the  Confederacy."  But,  to  his  keen  and  even  bitter  dis- 


THE  EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION  173 

appointment,  his  appeal  was  made  in  vain,  for  the  majority 
of  them  rejected  his  plan.  Of  course  this  did  not  concern 
his  proclamation,  which  did  not  affect  loyal  States  or  dis 
tricts;  but  it  would  greatly  have  aided  its  moral  effect, 
and  joined  with  it  would  have  freed  all  the  slaves  instead 
of  only  a  part. 

He  had  now  done  his  best  to  secure  compensated  eman 
cipation,  but  had  failed.  There  was  only  one  other  course 
for  him  to  consider.  He  said  to  a  Southerner,  who  had 
begged  him  not  to  issue  the  proclamation,  and  told  him 
wrongly  that  he  could  not  legally  do  it,  "What  I  can 
not  do  of  course  I  will  not  do,  but  it  may  as  well  be  under 
stood  once  and  for  all  that  I  shall  not  surrender  this  game 
leaving  any  available  card  unemployed.  I  have  about 
come  to  the  conclusion/'  he  added,  "that  I  must  free 
the  slaves  by  proclamation  or  we  ourselves  will  be  sub 
dued." 

On  the  day  following  the  conference  with  the  border 
States'  representatives,  while  driving  to  the  funeral  of  Secre 
tary  Stanton's  infant  son,  Lincoln  had  a  talk  with  Secre 
taries  Seward  and  Welles  about  the  topic  which  was  making 
so  strong  an  appeal  to  him,  that  is,  the  emancipation  of  the 
slaves.  He  argued  that  since  the  slaves  were  greatly  aiding 
the  Confederate  cause,  some  by  producing  food  to  aid  the 
Confederate  armies,  some  by  acting  as  teamsters,  and  others 
by  doing  various  forms  of  labor  in  Confederate  camps,  and 
for  other  reasons,  it  would  be  wise  to  adopt  some  measure 


174  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

by  which  these  slaves  could  help  the  Union  rather  than 
the  Confederate  cause. 

After  much  anxious  thought  he  called  a  Cabinet  meeting 
on  July  22.  In  opening  the  meeting  he  said  he  was  going 
to  communicate  something  about  which  he  did  not  wish 
them  to  offer  any  advice,  since  his  decision  had  already 
been  reached.  He  said  that  he  intended  no  disrespect  to 
any  member,  but  that  having  finally  reached  a  decision 
he  would  stand  by  it,  for  he  believed  it  was  right.  He 
added  that  he  should  be  glad  to  have  them  offer  any  sug 
gestions  as  to  details,  but  nothing  more. 

Then  he  read,  greatly  to  the  surprise  probably  of  all  but 
Seward  and  Welles,  the  first  rough  draft  of  an  emancipa 
tion  proclamation  which  he  had  in  mind  to  issue.  In  this 
he  declared  it  to  be  his  intention  to  recommend  that  Con 
gress  adopt  at  its  next  session  some  plan  of  emancipation. 
He  again  stated  the  purpose  of  the  war  as  being  the  pres 
ervation  of  the  Union;  and,  "as  a  fit  and  necessary  mili 
tary  measure  for  effecting  this  object/7  he  declared  that 
"on  January  1,  1863,  all  slaves  in  States  wherein  the  con 
stitutional  authority  of  the  United  States  was  not  recog 
nized  should  be  thenceforward  and  forever  free.77 

After  a  few  slight  verbal  changes  had  been  made  in  the 
proclamation,  Seward  offered  the  only  important  suggestion 
of  the  meeting.  He  urged  delay.  "I  suggest,77  he  said, 
"that  you  postpone  its  issue  until  you  can  give  it  to  the 
country  supported  by  military  success  instead  of  issuing 


THE  EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION  175 

it,  as  would  be  the  case  now,  upon  the  greatest  disaster  of 
the  war."  Then  he  added  his  fear  that  it  would  be  con 
sidered  "the  last  shriek  on  the  retreat." 

Lincoln    and    the    Cabinet    approved   this    suggestion. 
Then    the    meeting    adjourned,    with    the    understanding 


The  First  Reading  of  the  Emancipation  Proclamation. 
From  the  painting  by  F.  B.  Carpenter. 

that,  for  the  present,  all  should  strictly  keep  the  secret 
of  the  President's  purpose;  and  Lincoln  put  the  procla 
mation  aside  to  await  the  Union  victory  for  which  he 
longed. 

In  the  meantime  criticism  and  abuse  were  heaped  upon 
Lincoln  by  both  slavery  and  anti-slavery  men  from  all 
parts  of  the  country.  On  one  occasion,  after  listening  pa- 


176  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

tiently  to  a  group  of  callers  who  had  come  to  him  with 
complaints  of  his  failures,  Lincoln  said  to  them: 

"Gentlemen,  suppose  all  the  property  you  were  worth 
were  in  gold  and  you  had  put  it  in  the  hands  of  Blondin 
[the  most  famous  of  tight-rope  walkers],  to  carry  across  the 
Niagara  River  on  a  rope.  Would  you  shake  the  cable  or 
keep  shouting  at  him :  '  Blondin,  stand  up  a  little  straight er. 
Blondin,  stoop  a  little  more — go  a  little  faster — lean  a  little 
more  to  the  north — lean  a  little  more  to  the  south'?  No, 
you  would  hold  your  breath,  as  well  as  your  tongue,  and 
keep  your  hands  off  until  he  was  safe  over.  The  govern 
ment  is  carrying  an  enormous  weight,  untold  treasures  are 
in  their  hands;  they  are  doing  the  very  best  they  can. 
Don't  badger  them.  Keep  silence  and  we  will  take  you 
safe  across." 

Among  Lincoln's  critics  were  many  influential  men 
who  were  continually  urging  him  to  take  some  definite 
action  in  the  direction  of  emancipating  the  slaves.  The 
bitter  abuse  by  the  press  reached  its  culminating  point  in 
a  signed  editorial  written  by  Horace  Greeley  for  the  New 
York  Tribune  August  19,  1862,  with  the  heading  "The 
Prayer  of  Twenty  Millions."  This  was  a  criticism  of  Lin 
coln  for  his  failure  to  adopt  some  definite  plan  of  emanci 
pating  the  slaves. 

Three  days  later  Abraham  Lincoln  answered  this  edi 
torial  in  a  public  letter  which  was  printed  in  the  columns 
of  the  National  Intelligencer,  a  newspaper  which  was  pub- 


THE  EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION  177 

lished  in  Washington.  In  this  letter  Lincoln  said:  "My 
paramount  object  in  this  struggle  is  to  save  the  Union, 
and  is  not  to  save  or  destroy  slavery.  If  I  could  save  the 
Union  without  freeing  any  slave,  I  would  do  it;  and  if  I 
could  save  it  by  freeing  some  and  leaving  others  alone,  I 
would  also  do  that.  What  I  do  about  slavery  and  the 
colored  race,  I  do  because  I  believe  it  helps  to  save  the 
Union,  and  what  I  forbear  to  do,  I  forbear  because  I  do  not 
believe  it  would  help  to  save  the  Union.'7 

This  letter  was  a  singularly  shrewd  political  move.  It 
held  back  from  opposition  great  numbers,  who  thought 
the  country  had  no  right  to  abolish  slavery,  and  many 
more  who  thought  it  had  no  interest  in  doing  so.  But  be 
yond  this  it  was  a  remarkable  state  paper.  It  was  remark 
able  for  its  clearness,  its  simplicity,  and  its  strength,  as 
well  as  for  its  manly  courage.  It  made  a  deep  impression 
upon  the  country,  and  especially  upon  the  plain  people, 
who  were  strongly  in  sympathy  with  Lincoln.  They  ad 
mired  and  loved  him.  They  believed  that  he  was  honest, 
and  trusted  him  because  they  thought  they  understood 
him,  and  they  felt  that  he  understood  them. 

There  was  good  reason  for  this  strong  bond  of  good 
feeling  between  Lincoln  and  the  people,  for  during  all  his 
administration  he  was  ever  ready  to  take  the  people  into 
his  confidence.  If  in  any  part  of  the  country  some  criti 
cism  by  factional  leaders  sprang  up  as  to  what  he  was  doing 
or  not  doing,  it  was  his  habit  to  appeal  to  the  people  by 


178  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

writing  such  a  letter  as  the  one  we  have  just  discussed. 
These  letters,  brushing  aside  matters  of  minor  importance, 
always  seized  upon  the  main  issue.  They  were  always 
written  in  simple,  sincere  English  that  the  people  could 
understand;  and  they  put  arguments  into  the  mouths  of 
Lincoln's  admirers  and  followers  which  had  a  wonderful 
effect  in  strengthening  public  sentiment  in  his  favor.  These 
letters  were  effective  instruments  in  his  masterful  leadership. 

During  the  whole  summer  of  1862  Lincoln's  critics  were 
severe  upon  him  for  his  failure  to  set  the  slaves  free.  Their 
clamor  increased,  and  deputations  and  committees  in  great 
numbers  waited  upon  him.  He  was  censured  in  the  press, 
in  the  pulpit,  and  on  the  platform.  One  of  the  deputations, 
made  up  of  clergymen  from  various  religious  denomina 
tions  in  Chicago,  came  to  him  on  September  13,  and  re 
quested  that  he  issue  at  once  a  proclamation  of  universal 
emancipation.  After  arguing  with  them,  to  draw  out  their 
full  and  free  expression  of  opinion,  Lincoln  replied:  "I 
have  not  decided  against  a  proclamation  of  liberty  to  the 
slaves,  but  hold  the  matter  under  advisement,  and  I  as 
sure  you  that  the  subject  is  on  my  mind  by  day  and  night 
more  than  any  other.  Whatever  shall  appear  to  be  God's 
will  I  will  do.  I  trust  that  the  freedom  with  which  I  have 
canvassed  your  views  has  not  in  any  respect  injured  your 
feelings." 

When  they  indicated  that  he  was  not  carrying  out  the 
will  of  the  people,  and  that  the  will  of  the  people  was  also 


THE  EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION 


179 


the  divine  will  on  this  matter  of  emancipation,  he  replied: 
"I  hope  it  will  not  be  irreverent  for  me  to  say  that  if  it  is 
probable  that  God  would  reveal  his  will  to  others  on  a 


Lincoln  Receiving  the  Delegation  of  Clergymen  from  Chicago. 

point  so  connected  with  my  duty,  it  might  be  supposed  he 
would  reveal  it  directly  to  me;  for,  unless  I  am  more  de 
ceived  in  myself  than  I  often  am,  it  is  my  earnest  desire 
to  know  the  will  of  Providence  in  this  matter,  and  if  I  can 
learn  what  it  is  I  will  do  it.' 


180  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Lincoln's  power  to  keep  his  own  counsel  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  at  the  very  time  when  abusive  editorials 
were  being  published,  and  when  these  Chicago  clergy 
men  were  strongly  urging  him  to  emancipate  the  slaves, 
the  first  draft  of  his  Emancipation  Proclamation  was  al 
ready  written  and  lying  in  his  desk.  But  no  one  knew  any 
thing  about  it  except  the  members. of  his  Cabinet,  who  had 
kept  the  secret  well.  Committees  and  individuals  con 
tinued  to  come  and  discuss  the  question  of  the  freeing  of 
the  slaves  with  Lincoln,  and  almost  always  he  argued  the 
matter  as  if  he  were  opposed  to  it.  In  this  way  he  was 
balancing  the  question  and  weighing  the  sentiment  of  the 
people,  in  order  to  make  sure  that  he  was  reaching  a  right 
conclusion. 

And  so  the  summer  wore  away.  It  was  on  September 
17  that  the  victory  came  for  which  Lincoln  was  waiting. 
On  that  day  the  battle  of  Antietam,  won  by  Union  forces, 
drove  Lee  out  of  Maryland.  Five  days  later  Lincoln  called 
together  his  Cabinet.  After  some  general  conversation  he 
took  up  a  book  which  the  humorist  Artemus  Ward,  its 
author,  had  just  sent  to  him.  From  this  book  he  read  two 
chapters  which  he  thought  were  very  funny.  He  laughed 
heartily,  but  not  a  member  of  the  Cabinet  smiled.  Throw 
ing  his  book  down,  he  heaved  a  long  sigh  and  said :  "  Gentle 
men,  why  don't  you  laugh?  With  the  fearful  strain  that 
is  upon  me  night  and  day,  if  I  did  not  laugh  I  should  die, 
and  you  need  this  medicine  as  much  as  I  do." 


THE   EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION 


181 


Then,  changing  to  a  serious  tone  of  voice,  he  drew  forth 
from  his  tall  hat  a  paper  and  spoke  as  follows: 

"The  rebel  army  is  now  driven  out  of  Maryland,  and  I 
am  going  to  fulfil  the  promise  I  made  to  myself  and"- 
hesitating — ato  my  Maker.     I  have  gotten  you  together 
to  hear  what  I  have  written  down;   I  do  not  wish  your  ad- 


Burnside  Bridge,  Antietam. 

vice  about  the  main  thing,  for  that  I  have  determined  for 
myself."  Then  followed  his  reading  of  the  proclamation 
for  freedom,  the  pith  of  which  is  contained  in  the  follow 
ing  sentence : 

"On  the  first  day  of  January  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  one 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty-three,  all  persons  held 
as  slaves  within  any  State  or  designated  part  of  a  State, 
the  people  whereof  shall  then  be  in  rebellion  against  the 
United  States,  shall  be  then,  thenceforth,  and  forever  free." 


182 


ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 


The    statesmen  were    silent.     The  tremendous   impor 
tance  of  the  words  they  had  heard  broke  upon  them.     The 

man  whom  they  had  thought 
lacking  in  seriousness  sat  before 
them  in  grim  determination 
about  to  send  forth  an  edict 
that  would  profoundly  affect 
the  destiny  of  the  nation. 

Then  Secretary  Stanton  said : 
"Mr.  President^  if  the  reading 
of  Artemus  Ward  is  the  pre 
lude  to  such  a  deed  as  this,  the 
author  should  be  canonized." 
And  all  said:  "Amen." 

In  the  long  and  bitter  strug 
gle  through  which  Lincoln  had 
passed  in  reaching  a  decision  to 
issue  the  Emancipation  Procla 
mation,  he  had  asked  himself 
many  searching  questions: 
"Will  not  the  act  be  that  of  a 
dictator?  Will  it  not  do  more 
harm  than  good?  Will  it  not 

General  Robert  E.  Lee. 

injure   the   loyal   men    of    the 

South?"  According  to  his  own  account,  he  had  prayed  to 
the  Almighty  to  save  him  from  the  necessity  of  issuing  the 
proclamation,  and,  in  the  language  of  Gethsemane,  he  had 


THE  EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION  183 

said:  "If  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  me." 
Even  on  the  day  after  the  fateful  step  had  been  taken 
he  said:  "I  can  only  trust  in  God  that  I  have  made  no 
mistake." 

In  spite  of  the  clamor  that  had  been  raised  in  some  sec 
tions  to  force  such  a  measure,  the  announcement  of  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation,  given  to  the  country  on  Sep 
tember  22,  was  a  surprise  to  the  people,  and  its  immediate 
results  were  by  no  means  reassuring.  Although  many 
newspapers  and  prominent  men  commended  the  Emancipa 
tion  Proclamation,  the  country  did  not  accept  it  with  any 
signs  of  special  satisfaction.  The  distrust  of  Lincoln  among 
his  critics  was  as  great  as  ever.  Many  leading  politicians 
believed  the  country  was  moving  toward  destruction.  In 
five  great  States,  among  them  Lincoln's  own  State  of  Illi 
nois,  the  majorities  in  the  autumn  elections  went  against 
his  party,  and  the  number  of  men  enlisting  for  service  in 
the  army  dropped  off  very  considerably.  The  signs  of  dis 
favor  were  so  great  that  many  people  wondered  whether 
Lincoln  would  issue  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  at  the 
time  announced,  January  1,  1863. 

When  Congress  met,  early  in  December  (1862),  he  once 
more  made  a  strong  appeal  to  that  body  for  his  favorite 
plan  of  compensated  emancipation;  to  include  the  States 
in  rebellion  also,  and  so  induce  them  to  make  peace  and 
remove  the  great  wrong  of  slavery  from  the  Union.  But 
the  appeal  was  vain.  So  on  December  30  he  called  his 


184  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Cabinet  together  and  read  the  document  as  he  had  modified 
it,  asking  for  their  criticisms  and  suggestions.  The  next 
day  at  the  Cabinet  meeting  each  member  handed  these  in 
writing  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  He  took  them  all  to  his  office  and 
rewrote  the  document  during  the  afternoon  and  next  morn 
ing.  Leaving  it  to  be  engrossed,  he  went  at  eleven  o'clock 
to  the  New  Year's  reception,  which  kept  him  until  about 
the  middle  of  the  afternoon.  Then  he  went  back  to  the 
office,  where  he  found  the  Emancipation  Proclamation 
ready,  awaiting  his  signature. 

Frederick  Seward  writes: 

"The  broad  sheet  was  spread  before  him  on  the  Cabinet 
table.  Mr.  Lincoln  dipped  his  pen  in  the  ink  and  then 
holding  it  a  moment  above  the  paper  seemed  to  hesitate. 
Looking  around,  he  said :  '  I  never  in  my  life  felt  more  cer 
tain  that  I  was  doing  right  than  I  do  in  signing  this  paper. 
But  I  have  been  shaking  hands  since  nine  (eleven?)  o'clock 
this  morning,  till  my  arm  is  stiff  and  numb.  Now  this 
signature  is  one  that  will  be  closely  examined,  and  if  they 
find  that  my  hand  trembled,  they  will  say:  uHe  had  some 
compunction."  But  anyway  it  is  .going  to  be  done.'  ' 

So  saying,  he  slowly  and  carefully  wrote  at  the  bottom 
of  the  Proclamation:  " Abraham  Lincoln."  A  simple  act, 
but  one  which  ultimately  struck  the  shackles  from  three 
million  human  beings  and  undermined  an  institution  al 
most  as  old  as  the  human  race. 

It  must,  of  course,  be  remembered  that  this  measure 


THE   EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION  185 

did  not  immediately  emancipate  any  slaves  whatever. 
Had  it  professed  to  do  so,  it  would  have  been  mere  waste 
paper;  for  Lincoln  had  no  more  power  to  act  contrary  to 
the  Constitution  than  any  private  citizen.  But  as  com 
mander  of  the  national  armies,  he  had  power  to  take  any 
action  needed  to  weaken  the  enemy.  Hence  the  document 
emancipated  not  the  slaves  in  the  loyal  border  States,  nor 
even  in  Confederate  districts  already  conquered,  but  only 
in  those  to  be  conquered  and  when  they  should  be  con 
quered.  Its  effect  was  all  in  the  future,  and  that  kept  in 
creasing  as  more  and  more  territory  was  brought  under 
Union  sway.  Nearly  a  million  slaves  were  still  left  to  be 
emancipated  by  the  Thirteenth  Amendment  after  the  war; 
but  even  those  largely  owed  their  freedom  to  the  earlier 
measure. 

Even  at  this  time  Lincoln  did  not  feel  certain  whether 
the  Emancipation  Proclamation  would  bring  gain  or  loss 
to  the  Union  cause.  He  thought  it  would  bring  gain,  and 
having  come  to  this  decision,  he  was  willing  to  take  the 
risk. 

We  might  suppose  that  his  anti-slavery  critics  would 
now  have  given  him  due  credit  for  his  courage.  But  not 
so.  Even  this  heroic  action  seemed,  for  a  time,  to  divide 
the  North.  The  extreme  abolitionists  were  angry  that  it 
did  not  wipe  out  slavery  altogether,  though  it  could  not; 
the  extreme  Democrats,  of  course,  thought  it  a  social  and 
political  wrong;  while  great  numbers  of  moderate  people 


186  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

were  dismayed  because  it  put  an  end  to  their  favorite  plan 
of  winning  back  the  South  by  conciliation.  As  to  the 
South,  their  fury  was  unmeasured.  "The  greatest  polit 
ical  crime  and  the  greatest  political  blunder  of  modern 
times/7  one  newspaper  called  it. 

But  there  were  two  other  results  which  amply  justified 
Lincoln.  The  greatest  was  a  much  more  favorable  at 
titude  in  the  best  countries  of  Europe  toward  the  North. 
Its  most  important  effect  in  this  way  was  definitely  to 
align  on  the  Union  side  the  weight  of  England,  which  as 
the  champion  of  human  freedom  never  again  seriously  con 
sidered  interfering  for  the  Confederacy.  The  second  was 
the  enlisting  of  scores  of  thousands  of  black  men  as  soldiers 
in  the  Union  army.  As  the  North  brought  under  con 
trol  more  and  more  of  the  area  of  secession,  the  slaves 
in  increasing  numbers  joined  the  Union  armies  and  thus 
greatly  strengthened  the  chances  of  success  for  the  Union 
cause. 

All  told,  more  than  one  hundred  and  eighty-six  thou 
sand  negroes  took  up  arms  on  the  side  of  the  Union. 
This  transfer  of  negro  men  from  Southern  plantations  to 
the  armies  which  were  striving  to  conquer  the  South  had 
a  twofold  effect.  It  weakened  the  South  by  reducing 'the 
number  of  men  who  were  working  to  feed  and  support 
the  Confederate  armies,  and  by  just  so  much  did  it  add 
strength  to  the  Union  armies.  The  prejudice  in  the  North 
against  the  use  of  the  blacks  as  soldiers  rapidly  passed 


THE   EMANCIPATION  PROCLAMATION  187 

away.     These  men  fought  bravely,  and  in  so  doing  not 

only  helped  to  save  the  Union,  but  also  to  make  it  clear 

that  the  issue  of  the  Emancipation  Proclamation  was  an 
act  of  true  statesmanship. 


CHAPTER  X 
THE   DARKEST   PERIOD   OF   THE   WAR 

IN  spite  of  the  advantages  that  came  from  freeing  the 
slaves,  the  military  situation  was  still  far  from  satisfactory. 
After  the  failure  of  the  Peninsular  Campaign,  McClellan 
was  ordered  to  return  to  Washington  with  his  army.  His 
withdrawal  relieved  the  Confederate  capital,  and  Lee, 
marching  swiftly  northward,  defeated  the  Union  army 
under  General  Pope  near  Washington  in  the  second  battle 
of  Bull  Run.  This  defeat  caused  almost  as  great  a  panic 
in  Washington  as  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run,  and  general 
discouragement  to  the  defenders  of  the  Union.  McClel 
lan  's  hostile  critics — and  their  number  was  large — blamed 
him  because  he  had  not  been  prompt  in  sending  his  troops 
to  Pope's  support.  Lincoln  himself  said  to  one  of  his  secre 
taries:  "McClellan  has  acted  badly  toward  Pope.  He 
really  wanted  him  to  fail." 

A  wave  of  hot  indignation  spread  over  the  country,  and 
the  Cabinet  sent  a  signed  protest  to  the  President  against 
keeping  McClellan  longer  in  command  of  any  army  of  the 
United  States. 

But,  although  in  the  field  he  had  sorely  disappointed  the 
administration  as  well  as  the  loyal  people  of  the  North,  he 
had  shown  remarkable  power  in  organizing  the  splendid 

188 


Lincoln  in  1863. 
From  a  photograph  by  Brady. 


189 


190  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Army  of  the  Potomac  and  was  very  popular  with  his  men. 
Both  the  officers  and  the  soldiers  had  confidence  in  him  and 
loved  him.  So,  even  in  the  face  of  strenuous  opposition, 
Lincoln,  in  his  great  necessity,  appointed  him  once  more 
in  command  of  the  troops  around  Washington.  It  was  a 
time  of  crisis  and,  as  usual,  Lincoln  did  his  own  thinking. 

He  depended  upon  McClellan  quickly  to  put  the  troops 
into  form  after  their  defeat,  and  to  follow  sharply  after 
Lee,  who  was  headed  for  Maryland.  This  time  McClellan 
did  not  disappoint  the  President.  He  overtook  Lee  at 
Ajitietarn,  where,  as  we  have  noted,  he  defeated  him  on 
September  17,  1862.  Lincoln  expected  McClellan  to  follow 
up  his  victory  closely  and  attack  the  Confederates  before 
they  could  get  away;  but,  apparently  satisfied  with  the 
beginning  of  success,  he  settled  back  into  his  old  tactics  of 
cautious  waiting.  He  allowed  Lee  to  escape  across  the 
Potomac  River,  and,  in  spite  of  Lincoln's  repeated  urging, 
refused  to  follow.  He  said  that  the  troops  could  not  do 
it  for  lack  of  supplies,  and  that  should  they  tiy,  they  would 
risk  severe  defeat. 

After  about  three  weeks  Lincoln  went  in  person  to 
McClellan's  camp,  where  he  reviewed  the  army,  talked  with 
the  generals,  and  carefully  studied  the  situation.  Then  so 
certain  was  he  of  the  ability  of  the  army  to  win  a  victory 
that  on  the  next  day  after  his  return  to  Washington  he  sent 
McClellan  the  following  order:  "The  President  directs  that 
you  cross  the  Potomac  and  give  battle  to  the  enemy  or  drive 


THE  DARKEST  PERIOD  OF  THE  WAR 


191 


him  south."  But  the  obstinate  general,  alleging,  among 
other  things,  that  the  cavalry  horses  had  sore  mouths,  still 
remained  inactive. 

Grievously  tried  and  disappointed  over  McClellan's  per 
sistent  failure  to  force  Lee's  army  to  another  battle,  about 
November  first  Lin 
coln  removed  him 
from  command  and 
put  Burhside  in  his 
place.  Burnside,  one 
of  McClellan's  officers 
and  his  intimate  friend, 
was  a  handsome  and 
brave  man,  with  noth 
ing  of  that  self-confi 
dence  that  was  so 
marked  a  trait  in 
McClellan.  So  modest 
indeed  was  he  that  he 
had  twice  refused  the 
command  of  the  Army 
of  the  Potomac  be 
cause,  to  use  his  own  words,  he  was  "not  competent  to 
handle  so  large  an  army."  But  there  were  few  for  Lin 
coln  to  choose  from  and,  unfortunately  for  himself  and  for 
the  brave  men  under  him,  Burnside  accepted  the  weighty 
responsibility. 


General  Ambrose  E.  Burnside. 


192  ABRAHAM  LIN.COLN 

The  new  commander  followed  Lee  into  Virginia  and 
took  up  a  position  facing  him  at  Fredericksburg.  Burn- 
side  was  not  ready  to  give  battle  until  about  the  middle 
of  December.  Then  he  made  a  rash  assault  upon  Lee's 
troops,  strongly  fortified  upon  the  heights  of  Fredericks- 


Fredericksburg,  Showing  Ruins  after  the  Battle. 

burg,  and  was  defeated.  His  losses  were  so  heavy  that  the 
Union  army  had  to  withdraw. 

In  reporting  the  battle  Burnside  admitted  that  he  alone 
was  responsible  for  the  failure  and  declared  that  his  army 
was  worthy  of  the  highest  praise.  The  disaster  had  been 
so  great  that  he  lost  the  confidence  of  his  army  and  the 
country,  and  the  President,  in  grief  and  anxiety,  again  had 
to  look  for  a  general. 

Among  the  officers  who  had  severely  criticised  the 
leadership  of  General  Burnside  was  General  Hooker.  His 


THE   DARKEST  PERIOD   OF  THE  WAR  193 

soldiers  liked  to  call  him  " Fighting  Joe" — a  nickname  that 
indicated  his  popularity  with  the  men  in  the  ranks — for  he 
was  dashing  and  fearless.  But  whether  he  was  big  enough 
to  manage  and  direct  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  when  pitted 
against  an  able  general  like  Lee,  no  one  could  tell.  The 
President  was  just  as  uncertain  as  anybody.  It  was  a 
depressing  outlook.  Yet  Lincoln  had  to  make  the  decision, 
and  knowing  no  better  man,  he  appointed  Hooker,  having 
faith  in  his  ability  and  patriotism  and  in  the  high  esteem 
in  which  his  soldiers  held  him.  To  put  the  new  general 
on  his  guard,  however,  he  wrote  him  a  letter,  in  which  he 
frankly  but  gently  admonished  him.  Here  is  the  letter, 
which  clearly  indicates  the  President's  self-control  at  this 
time  of  trial: 

"I  have  placed  you  at  the  head  of  the  Army  of  the 
Potomac.  Of  course  I  have  done  this  upon  what  appeared 
to  me  to  be  sufficient  reasons,  and  yet  I  think  it  best  for 
you  to  know  that  there  are  some  things  in  regard  to  which 
I  am  not  quite  satisfied  with  you.  ...  I  have  heard,  in 
such  a  way  as  to  believe  it,  of  your  recently  saying  that 
both  the  army  and  the  government  needed  a  dictator.  .  .  . 
Only  those  generals  who  gain  successes  can  set  up  as  dic 
tators.  What  I  now  ask  of  you  is  military  success,  and  I 
will  risk  the  dictatorship.  The  government  will  support 
you  to  the  utmost  of  its  ability,  which  is  neither  more  nor 
less  than  it  has  done  and  will  do  for  all  commanders.  I 
much  fear  that  the  spirit  which  you  have  aided  to  infuse 


194  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

into  the  army,  of  criticising  their  commander  and  with 
holding  confidence  from  him,  will  now  turn  upon  you.  I 
will  assist  you  as  far  as  I  can  to  put  it  down.  Neither  you 
nor  Napoleon,  if  he  were  alive  again,  could  get  any  good 
out  of  any  army  while  such  a  spirit  prevails  in  it;  and  now, 


General  Joseph  Hooker. 

beware  of  rashness!  Beware  of  rashness;  but,  with  en 
ergy  and  sleepless  vigilance,  go  forward  and  give  us  vic 
tories." 

When  Hooker  had  finished  reading  the  letter,  he  was 
so  affected  by  its  kindly  spirit  that  tears  came  to  his  eyes. 
Folding  it  and  putting  it  into  his  pocket,  he  remarked: 
"That  is  just  such  a  letter  as  a  father  might  write  his  son! 
It  is  a  beautiful  letter  and,  although  I  think  he  is  harder 


THE  DARKEST  PERIOD   OF  THE  WAR  195 

on  me  than  I  deserve,  I  will  say  that  I  love  the  man  who 
wrote  it." 

Having  appointed  Hooker,  the  President  felt  that  he 
must  support  and  assist  him  to  the  best  of  his  ability.  So 
on  April  4  he  visited  Hooker's  headquarters.  Again  he 
wished  to  find  out  for  himself  the  tine  situation.  He  found 
that  the  army  had  been  put  into  splendid  form,  but  still 
he  had  gloomy  forebodings.  When  he  reached  the  camp 
and  reviewed  the  long  lines  of  "Boys  in  Blue,"  there  was 
no  joy  in  his  face.  Sadness  was  there — the  sadness  of  some 
threatening  calamity.  One  of  the  soldiers  who  looked  into 
Abraham  Lincoln's  face  that  day  wrote  afterward  as  fol 
lows: 

"None  of  us  to  our  dying  day  can  forget  that  coun 
tenance  !  From  its  presence  we  marched  directly  onward 
toward  our  camp,  and  as  soon  as  '  Route  step  !'  was  ordered 
and  the  men  were  free  to  talk,  they  spoke  thus  to  each  other: 
'  Did  you  ever  see  such  a  look  on  any  man's  face  ? '  l  He  is 
bearing  the  burden  of  the  nation/  'It  is  an  awful  load. 
It  is  killing  him.'  'Yes,  that  is  so;  he  is  not  long  for  this 
world.'  Concentrated  in  that  one  great,  strong,  yet  ten 
der  face,  the  agony  of  the  life-or-death  struggle  was  re 
vealed  as  we  had  never  seen  it  before.  With  new  under 
standing  we  knew  why  we  were  soldiers." 

And  Lincoln's  forebodings  proved  truly  prophetic;  for 
the  next  battle,  fought  at  Chancellorsville  on  May  1,  2,  3, 
and  4,  was  another  awful  slaughter  of  the  Union  army, 


196  ABRAHAM   LINCOLN 

another  case  of  brave  men  fighting  under  incompetent  lead 
ership.  From  thousands  of  mourning  homes  throughout  the 
North  letters  had  already  come,  urging  the  folly  and  cruelty 
of  sending  brave  men  into  battle  under  weak  generals. 
Now  a  fresh  flood  of  despair  poured  itself  through  the  same 
channel  into  the  White  House,  meeting  the  rush  of  dis 
astrous  news  from  the  battlefield.  The  President's  heart 
was  torn  with  grief.  The  terrible  strain  under  which  he 
labored  would  have  broken  down  a  man  of  less  physical  and 
mental  vigor. 

Noah  Brooks,  who  was  then  in  Washington  as  a  news 
paper  correspondent,  gives  a  vivid  account  of  the  bitter 
sorrow  and  suffering  which  the  news  of  this  defeat  brought 
to  Lincoln: 

"About  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,"  he  writes,  "the 
door  opened  and  Lincoln  came  into  the  room.  I  shall  never 
forget  that  picture  of  despair.  He  held  a  telegram  in  his 
hand.  He  gave  me  the  telegram,  and  in  a  voice  trembling 
with  emotion  said:  'Read  it.'  Never  as  long  as  I  knew 
him  did  he  seem  to  be  so  broken  up,  so  dispirited,  so  ghost 
like.  Clasping  his  hands  behind  his  back,  he  walked  up 
and  down  the  room,  saying :  '  My  God  !  My  God  !  What 
will  the  country  say  ?  What  will  the  country  say  ? ' ' 

That  night  was  an  agonizing  one  for  Lincoln.  His 
secretary,  working  across  the  hall,  heard  the  tread  of  the 
President's  footsteps,  back  and  forth,  back  and  forth,  till, 
at  three  o'clock,  his  own  work  finished,  he  went  home. 


THE   DARKEST   PERIOD   OF   THE   WAR  197 

When  he  returned  at  eight ,  he  found  the  President  in 
his  office;  calm  and  hopeful,  drinking  his  coffee,  which  had 
been  sent  in.  On  his  desk  lay  a  letter  of  instructions  to 
General  Hooker.  It  expressed  no  lack  of  confidence,  but 
gave  orders  to  push  forward  and  fight  again.  During  the 
long  hours  in  which  Lincoln  had  wrestled  with  the  forces 
of  despair,  he  had  worked  out  a  plan  to  meet  the  trying 
situation,  and  had  come  to  the  firm  determination  to  push 
the  wrar  with  all  the  resources  at  his  command. 

This  matter  of  finding  generals  was  one  of  Lincoln's 
most  perplexing  problems.  When  the  Southern  States 
seceded,  many  of  the  best-known  generals  went  with  them; 
and  it  took  time  for  the  Union  armies  to  develop  and  reveal 
leadership.  It  was  a  unique  situation  for  the  President. 
Almost  without  military  training  or  experience,  he  was 
called  upon  to  plan  and  direct  military  movements,  because 
as  yet  no  one  had  been  found  in  the  army  capable  of  assum 
ing  that  responsibility.  After  McClelland  failure  before 
Richmond,  the  President  had  felt  that  he  must  have  a 
man  of  military  training  to  advise  him,  and  had  appointed 
General  Halleck;  but  in  the  crisis  that  followed  the  Union 
defeat  at  the  second  battle  of  Bull  Run  Halleck  had  left  the 
President  to  decide,  and  was  therefore  of  little  avail. 

Perhaps  it  was  fortunate  that  the  decisions  rested  upon 
Lincoln;  for  history  has  confirmed  the  military  plans  of 
the  President,  as  revealed  in  his  notes,  to  have  been  sound. 
It  is  known  that  he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of  mili- 


198  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

tary  science  and  to  the  geography  of  campaigns  with  the 
same  systematic  care  that  he  would  have  given  to  a  law 
case.  Above  all,  his  common  sense  and  good  judgment 
carried  him  through  many  critical  situations.  Then,  too, 
however  dark  and  threatening  the  outlook,  he  never  lost 
courage  nor  faith  in  final  victory. 

There  was  need  of  all  these  strong  qualities  in  the  win 
ter  of  1862  and  the  spring  of  1863,  for  it  was  the  darkest 
period  of  the  war.  The  people  in  the  North  were  angry 
and  unhappy.  The  war  had  cost  many  thousands  of  brave 
young  lives;  and  aside  from  this  human  toll,  it  was  costing 
the  country  two  million  dollars  a  day.  Yet  there  was  al 
most  nothing  to  show  for  it  in  the  way  of  success  on  the 
battle-field.  Countless  letters  of  protest  against  this  terrible 
waste  were  heaped  upon  Lincoln's  desk.  But  how  was 
Lincoln  to  turn  defeat  into  victory?  He  had  a  fine  army, 
brave,  loyal,  and  disciplined.  If  only  he  could  find  the 
right  general ! 


CHAPTER  XI 
GETTYSBURG   AND  THE  TURNING  OF  THE  TIDE 

ABOUT  a  month  later;  while  the  Army  of  the  Potomac 
was  stiJl  holding  its  position  opposite  Lee's  army  on  the 
Rappahannock,  Lee  quietly  left  his  quarters  and  started 
on  his  second  invasion  of  the  North.  Hooker  followed  him 
skilfully  until  they  had  both  crossed  the  Potomac,  and  then, 
quarrelling  with  Halleck,  he  resigned.  It  was  but  another 
incident  of  petty  bickering  and  jealousy  which  in  those 
trying  days  embarrassed  the  Union  cause  and  hindered  the 
President  in  his  conduct  of  the  war.  General  Meade,  an 
other  corps  officer,  was  appointed  to  succeed  Hooker. 

Great  was  the  people's  consternation  at  this  sudden 
change  of  generals  on  the  eve  of  a  great  battle.  Washington 
was  under  a  terrible  strain,  and  the  North,  panic-stricken, 
stood  appalled.  What  must  have  been  the  feelings  of 
Lincoln  as  he  awaited  the  outcome  of  the  battle  that  was 
to  decide  the  fate  of  the  nation ! 

The  new  commander,  with  desperate  energy,  pressed  so 
closely  upon  the  heels  of  Lee  that  the  latter  had  to  turn, 
at  Gettysburg,  Pennsylvania,  and  attack  him.  There 
during  three  hot  summer  days  (July  1,  2,  3)  the  two  armies 
fought  one  of  the  great  battles  of  the  world.  On  the  last 
day,  from  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  to  three,  General 

199 


200 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


Lee  kept  up  a  continuous  cannonade  upon  the  Union  centre, 
following  it  with  a  great  infantry  attack.  The  charge 
failed,  General  Lee,  with  his  veterans  of  Fredericksburg 
and  Chancellorsville,  suffered  defeat,  and  the  Union  cause 

was  safe.  On  the  4th 
of  July  the  frightened 
North  learned,  with  a 
sigh  of  relief,  that  the 
Confederate  army  had 
begun  to  retreat  to 
ward  the  Potomac. 

The  President  was 
strongly  urging  Meade 
to  pursue  and  engage 
Lee's  shattered  army 
in  another  battle  be 
fore  it  could  cross  the 
Potomac.  Meade  did 
follow  closely,  but  not 
knowing  how  badly 
shattered  Lee's  army 
was,  and  believing  the 
situation  too  critical  to  risk  an  attack  upon  the  strongly 
fortified  Confederate  army  on  the  heights  in  front  of  the 
Potomac,  he  allowed  him  to  escape  unhindered.  Like 
McClellan  after  Antietam,  he  would  not  take  the  chance 
of  a  second  battle,  although  by  so  doing  he  might,  as  many 


General  George  Gordon  Meade. 


GETTYSBURG  201 

thought,  have  crushed,  or  perhaps  even  captured  Lee's 
army,  and  have  brought  the  war  to  a  close  with  victory 
for  the  Union. 

Lincoln,  believing  this,  was  so  distressed  that  he  paced 
the  floor  in  deathly  pallor,  wringing  his  hands  in  agony. 
His  anxiety  so  wrought  upon  him  that  he  could  not  shake 
it  off.  Twelve  days  after  the  battle,  he  sent  these  bitter 
words  in  a  telegram  to  Simon  Cameron,  his  former  Secre 
tary  of  War:  "I  would  give  much  to  be  relieved  of  the 
impression  that  Meade,  Couch,  Smith,  and  all,  since  the 
battle  of  Gettysburg,  have  striven  only  to  get  Lee  over 
the  river  without  another  fight." 

On  the  preceding  day  he  had  written  a  letter  to  General 
Meade,  expressing  his  sorrow  and  dissatisfaction. 

".  .  .  My  dear  General/'  he  said,  "I  do  not  believe 
you  appreciate  the  magnitude  of  the  misfortune  involved 
in  Lee's  escape.  He  was  within  your  easy  grasp,  and  to 
have  closed  upon  him  would,  in  connection  with  our  other 
late  successes,  have  ended  the  war.  As  it  is,  the  war 
will  be  prolonged  indefinitely.  It  w^ould  be  unreasonable 
to  expect,  and  I  do  not  expect,  that  you  can  now  effect 
much.  Your  golden  opportunity  is  gone.  I  am  distressed 
immeasurably  because  of  it.  I  beg  you  will  not  consider 
this  a  prosecution  or  persecution  of  yourself.  As  you  have 
learned  that  I  was  dissatisfied,  I  have  thought  it  best  to 
kindly  tell  you  why." 

But  after  thinking  it  over,  he  did  not  send  the  letter, 


202  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

because  the  Confederate  army  had  already  escaped,  and 
he  did  not  wish  to  dishearten  General  Meade  for  the  task 
still  before  him. 

A  saving  feature  of  the  general  situation  relieved  the 
terrible  gloom  cast  upon  Lincoln  by  Meade's  failure  to  put 
in  the  finishing  stroke.  On  the  same  day  that  Lee  began 
his  retreat,  July  4,  1863,  General  Grant  received  the  sur 
render  of  Vicksburg,  with  thirty-two  thousand  men.  Four 
days  later  Port  Hudson  also  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
Union  forces.  This  was  the  last  Confederate  stronghold 
on  the  Mississippi  River,  which  was  now  entirely  under  the 
control  of  the  Union.  As  the  Mississippi  was  second  only 
in  importance  to  the  Potomac,  its  control  by  the  Union 
could  not  but  cheer  the  President  and  lighten  the  depres 
sion  of  the  White  House. 

These  victories  marked  the  turning  of  the  tide  in  favor 
of  the  Union.  Lee  had  hoped  to  win  a  great  victory  on 
Northern  soil.  He  had  hoped  to  capture  the  city  of  Phila 
delphia,  perhaps  Baltimore  and  Washington,  and  thus 
strike  a  blow  severe  enough  to  bring  the  war  to  a  close. 
But  from  this  time  the  Confederate  cause  was  doomed, 
although  it  was  not  so  clear  then  as  it  is  now. 

The  little  town  of  Gettysburg  had  thus  been  the  field 
of  one  of  the  decisive  battles  of  the  world.  There  had 
fallen  six  thousand  six  hundred  "Boys  in  Blue"  and  "Boys 
in  Gray,"  and  there  they  were  buried  on  Cemetery  Ridge. 
This  spot,  made  sacred  by  the  sacrifice  of  so  many  lives, 


GETTYSBURG 


203 


was  set  apart  as  a  national  cemetery.  November  19,  the 
day  appointed  for  its  consecration,  a  vast  company  assem 
bled  to  do  honor  to  the  occasion.  The  heat  of  summer 
had  passed,  and  the  leaves  of  autumn  lay  scattered  over 
the  graves  of  the  heroes  who  had  here  given  up  their  lives. 


Gettysburg  in  War  Time. 

Edward  Everett  was  to  deliver  the  oration.  President 
Lincoln  was  invited  to  be  present  and  to  say  a  few  words 
in  accepting  and  setting  apart  this  spot  to  its  sacred  use. 
Everett's  able  and  eloquent  address,  lasting  two  hours, 
was  listened  to  with  rapt  attention  by  the  throng  of  one 
hundred  thousand  people. 

When  Mr.  Lincoln  arose  and  came  forward,  the  vast 


204  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

audience,  which  had  been  unable  to  see  him  where  he  sat 
on  the  platform,  looked  with  curious  interest  upon  his  tow 
ering  figure.  For  a  moment  he  stood  with  bowed  head  and 
hands  clasped  behind  him.  So  impressed  were  the  people 
with  the  sad-eyed  countenance,  furrowed  with  heavy  care 
and  sorrow,  that  they  almost  forgot  to  cheer.  For  a  mo 
ment  he  met  their  gaze  in  silence  as  if  unconscious  of  their 
presence,  and  then  began  to  speak  in  his  high  treble  voice 
as  follows: 

"Four  score  and  seven  years  ago  our  fathers  brought 
forth  upon  this  continent  a  new  nation,  conceived  in  liberty, 
and  dedicated  to  the  proposition  that  all  men  are  created 
equal.  Now  we  are  engaged  in  a  great  civil  war,  testing 
whether  that  nation,  or  any  nation  so  conceived  and  so 
dedicated,  can  long  endure.  We  are  met  on  a  great  battle 
field  of  that  war.  We  have  come  to  dedicate  a  portion  of 
that  field  as  a  final  resting-place  for  those  who  here  gave 
their  lives  that  that  nation  might  live.  It  is  altogether 
fitting  and  proper  that  we  should  do  this.  But  in  a  larger 
sense  we  cannot  dedicate,  we  cannot  consecrate,  we  cannot 
hallow  this  ground.  The  brave  men,  living  and  dead,  who 
struggled  here,  have  consecrated  it  far  above  our  power  to 
add  or  detract.  The  world  will  little  note,  nor  long  remem 
ber,  what  we  say  here,  but  it  can  never  forget  what  they 
did  here.  It  is  for  us,  the  living,  rather  to  be  dedicated 
here  to  the  unfinished  work  which  they  who  fought  here 
have  thus  far  so  noblv  advanced.  It  is  rather  for  us  to  be 


Lincoln  and  Tad. 
From  a  photograph  by  Brady  taken  at  the  White  House. 


205 


206  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

here  dedicated  to  the  great  task  remaining  before  us,  that 
from  these  honored  dead  we  take  increased  devotion  to 
that  cause  for  which  they  gave  the  last  full  measure  of  de 
votion;  that  we  here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall 
not  have  died  in  vain;  that  this  nation,  under  God,  shall 
have  a  new  birth  of  freedom,  and  that  government  of.  the 
people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish 
from  the  earth." 

Hardly  had  his  hearers  settled  themselves  to  listen  when 
he  sat  down,  to  the  great  surprise  of  all,  for  he  had  been 
speaking  only  two  minutes.  It  was  therefore  natural  that 
the  applause  should  not  be  hearty  and  enthusiastic.  Even 
the  distinguished  men  on  the  platform  failed  to  realize  that 
there  had  been  spoken  one  of  the  world's  masterpieces. 
Some  of  his  friends  and  admirers  also  were  greatly  disap 
pointed. 

"He  has  made  a  failure,"  remarked  Everett,  "and  I  am 
sorry  for  it.  His  speech  was  not  equal  to  him." 

Lincoln  himself  said:  "Lamon,  that  speech  won't  scour. 
It  is  a  flat  failure.  The  people  are  disappointed." 

But  when  men  saw  the  address  in  printed  form,  they 
were  struck  with  its  power  and  beauty.  Then  they  knew 
that  in  poetic  feeling,  purity  of  language,  and  nobility  of 
thought,  it  was  a  flawless  gem.  After  reading  it,  Edward 
Everett  wrote  to  Lincoln:  "I  should  be  glad  if  I  could 
flatter  myself  that  I  came  as  near  the  central  idea  of  the 
occasion  in  two  hours  as  you  did  in  two  minutes." 


GETTYSBURG  207 

The  Gettysburg  address  fittingly  symbolizes  the  spirit 
of  Abraham  Lincoln.  In  it  are  revealed  the  sincerity,  sym 
pathy,  and  tenderness  of  his  nature,  and  his  lofty  concep 
tion  of  what  should  be  our  nation's  sublime  purpose  and 
aspiration.  It  was  as  if  for  a  brief  moment  the  soul  of  the 
man  were  set  free  in  speech,  and  then  quickly  retired  to 
its  hiding-place  in  the  rugged  human  temple  where  nature 
had  enshrined  it. 


CHAPTER  XII 
LINCOLN'S   SIMPLICITY   AND   FRIENDLINESS 

TURNING  aside  for  a  little  from  the  strenuous  anxieties 
and  heavy  burdens  which  made  up  for  the  most  part  the 
daily  life  of  the  President,  we  are  cheered  and  warmed  by 
many  friendly  and  tender  incidents  in  his  experience.  They 
are  like  sunshine  filtering  through  a  darkening  forest,  not 
only  beautiful  in  themselves,  but  throwing  beneficent  light 
on  their  gloomy  surroundings.  A  few  will  serve  to  show 
his  kindly  attitude  toward  those  in  humble  walks  of  life, 
and  his  gracious  bearing  toward  those  who  looked  to  him 
for  sympathy  or  help. 

But  first  let  us  look  at  Lincoln  himself  in  his  most  human 
aspect,  apart  from  the  requirements  of  his  office.  Into  his 
exalted  position  as  head  of  the  nation,  girt  round  with  ac 
cepted  social  conventions,  he  carried  the  simplicity  of  the 
backwoods  life,  hardly  giving  thought  to  the  ordinaiy 
formalities  of  every-day  living. 

He  spent  nearly  all  his  time  earnestly  at  work  in  his 
office.  Even  when  he  wrent  to  the  dining-room,  he  was 
quite  as  likely  as  not  to  sit  at  the  table  lost  in  thought 
without  really  knowing  what  he  ate.  It  was  not  unusual 
for  him  to  be  so  weighed  down  with  care  and  anxiety  as  to 

208 


Lincoln  with  His  Family. 
From  the  painting  by  Alonzo  Chappel.     Copyright  by  H.  B.  Hall's  Sons. 


209 


210  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

forget  to  go  to  his  meals  at  all.  Then  some  food  was  sent 
on  a  tray  to  his  office — a  glass  of  milk,  or  some  crackers  and 
fruit,  satisfied  him.  He  was  a  light  eater,  and  his  diet  was 
simple. 

His  dress  was  as  plain  as  his  food  was  simple.  When 
at  work  in  his  office  he  generally  had  on  slippers.  In  summer 
he  often  wore  a  faded  linen  duster,  and  in  winter,  on  going 
out  during  the  day,  he  frequently  wrapped  around  his 
shoulders  an  old  gray  shawl  instead  of  putting  on  an  over 
coat. 

He  kept  up  his  country  habit  of  rising  early,  and  was 
often  at  work  by  six  o'clock.  One  morning  at  that  hour,  a 
stranger  passing  the  White  House  saw  Mr.  Lincoln  stand 
ing  in  the  gateway,  apparently  waiting  for  something.  The 
President  remarked:  " I  am  looking  for  a  newsboy.  If  you 
see  one  when  you  turn  the  corner,  please  send  him  to  me." 

Although  his  days  were  long  and  crowded  with  cares,  he 
was  never  too  busy  to  help  those  who  sought  his  aid.  He 
would  listen  with  patience  to  an  appeal  from  any  man  or 
woman,  even  the  humblest  citizen.  One  day  two  women 
called  to  beg  for  the  release  of  two  men  in  jail  for  resisting 
the  draft.  Their  request  led  Lincoln  to  release  all  the  men 
in  the  same  jail  for  that  offense.  To  a  friend  close  by  he 
said:  " These  fellows  have  suffered  long  enough." 

The  elder  of  the  women,  an  aged  mother,  was  much 
affected,  and  said  to  the  President  quietly  as  she  was  leav 
ing:  "I  shall  probably  never  see  you  again  until  we  meet 


LINCOLN'S  SIMPLICITY  AND   FRIENDLINESS     211 

in  Heaven."  This  touched  the  President  keenly ,  and  his 
friend,  observing  the  effect,  said  to  him:  "You  are  too 
sensitive  a  man  and  too  sympathetic  to  endure  such  try 
ing  scenes  every  day.  You  should  protect  your  nerves 
and  your  strength  against  such  an  ordeal."  "  Things  of 
the  sort  you  have  just  seen  don't  hurt  me/'  Lincoln  re 
plied.  "It  is  the  only  thing  to-day  that  has  made  me 
forget  my  condition  or  has  given  me  any  pleasure."  Then 
he  added  these  beautiful  words:  "Die  when  I  may,  I  wish 
it  said  of  me  by  those  who  know  me  best  that  I  always 
plucked  a  thistle  and  planted  a  flower  where  I  thought  a 
flower  would  grow." 

On  another  occasion — and  official  burdens  were  un 
usually  heavy  that  day— a  throng  of  men  and  women 
were  waiting  in  the  White  House  for  an  opportunity  to 
talk  with  him,  when  a  friend  remarked: 

"Mr.  President,  you  had  better  send  that  throng  away. 
You  are  too  tired  to  see  any  more  people  this  afternoon. 
Have  them  sent  away,  for  you  will  wear  yourself  out  listen 
ing  to  them." 

"They  don't  want  much,  and  they  get  very  little/'  he 
replied.  "Each  one  considers  his  business  of  great  im 
portance,  and  I  mast  gratify  them.  I  know  how  I  should 
feel  if  I  were  in  their  place." 

In  no  way  did  Lincoln's  tender,  gentle,  sympathetic 
nature  find  better  expression  than  in  his  personal  relations 
with  the  soldiers.  Most  of  them  were  not  more  than  twenty- 


212  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

one  years  of  age,*  many  were  less;  so  in  their  blue  capes 
and  caps  they  were  in  fact  as  in  name  "Boys  in  Blue." 

Lincoln's  first  visits  to  the  soldier  boys  were  when  they 
were  encamped  just  outside  of  Washington,  before  they 
had  had  any  experience  of  campaigns  and  battles,  or  knew 
anything  of  the  cruelties  and  hardships  of  war.  It  was  there 
that  many  came  to  know  him,  to  feel  his  friendly  hand 
clasp,  to  receive  his  "God  bless  you,"  and  to  believe  that 
he  cared  for  them  not  only  as  soldiers  but  as  men. 

When  he  visited  their  camp,  and  passed  down  the  long 
rows  of  tents,  he  showed  an  interest  in  everything  that 
touched  their  daily  lives.  To  their  hearty  greetings  he  an 
swered  by  smiles  and  nods,  and  in  many  ways  revealed  to 
them  that  he  was  indeed  the  soldiers'  friend.  Later  in  the 
war,  Lincoln  visited  the  soldiers  when  they  were  encamped 
on  the  Rappahannock  River  and  at  Antietam.  There,  as 
at  Washington  in  the  earlier  days,  he  made  it  plain  to  each 
man  that  he  was  a  personal  friend.  "Father  Abraham" 
they  loved  to  call  him,  and  to  him  every  man  bearing  a 
musket  was  a  son.  Looking  upon  his  sorrow-stricken  but 
kindly  face,  they  said:  "He  cares  for  us;  he  makes  us  fight, 
but  he  cares." 

One  company  that  was  stationed  at  the  Soldiers'  Home 
just  outside  of  Washington,  where  Mr.  Lincoln  had  his 
summer  cottage,  was  especially  favored  by  daily  associa- 

*Of  the  2,500,000  "Boys  in  Blue"  who  enlisted  during  the  war,  more 
than  2,000,000  were  under  21  years  old,  more  than  1,000,000  were  not  18; 
800,000  were  under  17;  200,000  under  16,  and  100,000  under  15. 


LINCOLN'S   SIMPLICITY   AND   FRIENDLINESS      213 

tion  with  him.  They  acted  as  guard  for  Air.  Lincoln  in 
his  comings  and  goings  between  Washington  and  their 
camp;  and  sometimes  when  they  were  at  mess  he  would 
say:  "That  coffee  smells  good,  boys.  Give  me  a  cup/'  or 
"How  are  these  beans,  boys?  Let  me  have  a  plate." 


Sanitary  Commission  Lodge,  Washington. 

The  fortunate  captain  of  this  company,  by  request  of 
Mr.  Lincoln,  took  breakfast  with  him  every  morning,  and 
then  accompanied  the  President  as  guard  to  the  White 
House. 

"It  was  Mr.  Lincoln's  custom,  on  account  of  the  pressure 
of  business/'  said  the  captain,  "to  breakfast  before  the  other 
members  of  the  family  were  up;  and  I  usually  entered  his 
room  at  six  thirty  or  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  where  I 


214 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


often  found  him  reading  the  Bible  or  some  work  on  the 
art  of  war.  On  my  entering  he  would  read  aloud  and  offer 
comments  of  his  own  on  what  he  read." 

Not  only  did  the  fresh  recruits  learn  to  look  for  the 
President's  visits,  but  the  wounded  soldiers  as  well.     They 


Hare  wood  Hospital  near  Washington. 

were  brought  to  Washington  by  the  thousand,  filling  the 
hospitals  to  overflowing  and  crowding  the  parks  and  streets 
—crippled  men  with  leg  or  arm  missing,  and  with  worn, 
haggard  faces.  To  all  of  these  Abraham  Lincoln  extended 
a  personal  attention  that  revealed  his  kindness  in  count 
less  ways.  In  the  hospitals,  as  he  passed  by  cot  after  cot, 
he  would  stop  now  and  then  to  shake  hands  or  utter  cheer 
ing  words  to  the  sick  and  the  suffering.  Thus  did  his  loving 
spirit  go  out  to  those  who  stood  in  need  of  him. 


LINCOLN'S  SIMPLICITY  AND  FRIENDLINESS     215 


Oftentimes  a  flash  of  Lincoln's  humor  would  bring  a 
quick  laugh  and  brighten  the  whole  day  for  the  sufferers. 
One  day  in  a  crowded  hospital  it  was  whispered  from  cot  to 
cot  that  Lincoln  was  in  the  building  and  would  soon  pass 
by.  All  who  could 
stand  did  so;  with 
hands  by  their  sides, 
ready  to  salute  their 
commander.  A  soldier 
from  Pennsylvania, 
who  had  been  wounded 
in  the  shoulder,  was 
one  of  these.  He  was 
a  giant  in  size,  six  feet 
seven  inches  tall — that 
being  three  inches 
taller  than  the  Presi 
dent.  When  Lincoln 
approached  him,  he 
stopped  in  amazement. 
Looking  up  from  the 
feet  to  the  head  and 
then  dowTi  from  the  head  to  the  feet  of  this  tall  man,  he 
stood  speechless.  After  a  few  seconds  of  silence  he  grasped 
the  giant  by  the  hand,  exclaiming:  "Hello,  comrade,  do 
you  know  when  your  feet  get  cold?" 

A  case  that  was  especially  touching  was  that  of  "Little 


Lincoln  Visiting  Wounded  Soldiers. 


216  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Johnnie/'  who  had  been  in  the  hospital  a  long  time.  He 
was  hopelessly  crippled,  and  beyond  recovery.  But  he 
was  always  cheerful  and  was  much  liked  by  all  who  knew 
him.  In  passing  the  cot  of  this  little  sufferer,  Lincoln  never 
failed  to  stop,  and  often  sent  him,  through  Mrs.  Lincoln, 
fruit  and  flowers,  and  a  friendly  message. 

But  it  was  especially  the  youthful  soldiers  who  had 
committed  some  offense  against  military  discipline  that 
he  bore  upon  his  heart  with  a  truly  paternal  solicitude. 
Here  is  an  example  in  a  note  which  Lincoln  wrote  to  the 
secretary  of  war: 


f*hr*s~ 


aSEC.  OF  WAR. 

"  Please  see  this  Pittsburgh  boy.  He  is  very  young  and 
I  shall  be  satisfied  with  whatever  you  do  with  him. 

"A.  LINCOLN." 
"August  21,  1863." 

The  "Pittsburgh  boy"  had  joined  the  army  when  only 
seventeen.  He  had  endured  a  long,  tedious  fever.  He  de 
sired  a  furlough,  and  with  a  curious  belief  that  he  could 


LINCOLN'S   SIMPLICITY  AND  FRIENDLINESS     217 

get  anything  of  advantage  to  himself  if  he  could  only  see 
the  President;  he  made  his  way  into  the  White  House  one 
day,  and  the  note  above  was  the  outcome  of  his  interview. 

Another  incident  shows  his  personal  relations  with  one 
of  the  young  soldiers,  who  was  found  asleep  while  on  sen 
tinel  duty.  This  boy,  William  Scott  by  name,  was  from 
Vermont.  He  was  tried  by  court-martial,  and  sentenced  to 
be  shot.  The  captain  and  members  of  his  company,  who 
were  neighbors  of  his  before  they  enlisted,  begged  that 
his  life  might  be  spared.  But  it  was  without  avail.  Then 
an  appeal  was  made  to  Lincoln,  who  as  usual  was  touched 
by  it.  The  young  Vermonter  said  that  he  had  been  brought 
up  on  a  farm,  and  then  went  on  to  tell  about  the  simple 
life  he  had  lived  there.  He  showed  Lincoln  the  picture  of 
his  mother.  He  said,  in  telling  the  story  of  the  interview 
to  a  comrade  afterward,  that  he  was  just  going  to  request 
Mr.  Lincoln  "to  fix  it  so  that  the  firing-party  [which  was 
to  shoot  him]  would  not  be  from  our  regiment,"  when  he 
said:  "My  boy,  you  are  not  going  to  be  shot  to-morrow. 
...  I  am  going  to  send  you  back  to  your  regiment.  But 
I  have  been  put  to  a  good  deal  of  trouble  on  your  account, 
.  .  .  and  what  I  want  to  know  is,  how  you  are  going  to 
pay  my  bill?" 

The  young  soldier,  in  answer,  spoke  of  various  ways  in 
which  he  could  raise  money  for  this  purpose. 

"Then,"  continued  young  Scott,  in  telling  the  story, 
"Mr.  Lincoln  put  his  hands  on  my  shoulders  and  looked 


218  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

into  my  face  as  if  he  was  sorry,  and  said :  '  My  boy,  my  bill 
is  a  very  large  one.  Your  friends  cannot  pay  it;  nor  your 
bounty,  nor  your  farm,  nor  all  your  comrades.  There  is 
only  one  man  in  all  the  world  who  can  pay  it,  and  his  name 
is  William  Scott !  If  from  this  day  William  Scott  does  his 
duty,  so  that  if  I  was  there  when  he  comes  to  die,  he  can 
look  me  in  the  face  as  he  does  now,  and  say,  I  have  kept 
my  promise,  and  I  have  done  my  duty  as  a  soldier,  then  my 
debt  will  be  paid.  Will  you  make  that  promise  and  try  to 
keep  it?' 

"I  said  I  would  make  the  promise,  and  with  God's 
help  I  would  keep  it.  I  could  say  no  more.  I  wanted  to 
tell  him  how  hard  I  would  try  to  do  all  he  wanted;  but  the 
words  would  not  come,  so  that  I  had  to  let  it  all  go  unsaid. 
He  went  away  out  of  my  sight  forever.  I  know  I  shall 
never  see  him  again;  but  may  God  forget  me  if  I  forget 
his  kind  words  or  my  promise." 

Some  months  later  he  was  in  a  charge  made  upon  the 
Confederates  in  the  Peninsular  Campaign.  His  company 
had  to  go  across  a  river,  bu^  was  driven  back  with  heavy 
loss,  many  wounded  being  left  behind.  The  boy  was  among 
those  who  went  back  to  rescue  the  fallen,  and  in  doing  so 
swam  across  the  river  again  and  again,  each  time  returning 
with  a  wounded  comrade.  When  he  was  bringing  back  his 
last  living  burden,  a  ball  struck  him  in  the  breast  and  he 
fell  with  a  mortal  wound.  He  had  paid  in  full  the  price 
that  his  commander-in-chief  had  asked  for  his  release. 


LINCOLN'S  SIMPLICITY  AND  FRIENDLINESS     219 

But  far  beyond  the  battle-fields  and  the  hospitals,  even 
in  the  stricken  homes,  Lincoln  ministered  to  those  who 
mourned.  Among  the  bereaved  women  of  the  war  was 
Mrs.  Lydia  Bixby,  a  poor  working  woman  in  Massachusetts 
and  a  widow,  who,  Lincoln  heard,  had  lost  five  sons  on  the 


A  Fort  on  the  Potomac  River. 


battle-field,  and  he  wrote  her  the  following  beautiful  letter 
of  sympathy: 

"I  feel  how  weak  and  fruitless  must  be  any  word  of 
mine  which  could  attempt  to  beguile  you  from  the  grief  of 
a  loss  so  overwhelming,  but  I  cannot  refrain  from  tendering 
to  you  the  consolation  that  may  be  found  in  the  thanks  of 
the  Republic  they  died  to  save. 

"I  pray  our  Heavenly  Father  may  assuage  the  anguish 
of  your  bereavement,  and  leave  only  the  cherished  memory 


220  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

of  the  loved  and  lost,  and  the  solemn  pride  which  must  be 
yours  to  have  laid  so  costly  a  sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of 
freedom." 

The  time  Lincoln  spent  in  listening  to  the  pleadings 
by  friends,  in  behalf  of  deserters  who  had  been  condemned 
to  death,  was  large.  It  mattered  not  how  busy  he  was. 
In  the  midst  of  the  most  perplexing  situations  he  would 
take  time  for  a  careful  consideration  of  every  case  that  was 
brought  to  his  notice.  Nothing  gave  him  keener  satis 
faction  than  to  prevent  an  injustice,  or  to  lighten  the  bur 
den  of  sorrow  for  some  suffering  soul.  His  usual  telegram 
was:  " Suspend  execution  and  forward  record  for  examina 
tion."  But  at  times  he  sent  the  message:  " Suspend  exe 
cution  of  the  death  sentence  until  further  orders." 

"But,"  said  a  heart-stricken  father  on  one  occasion, 
"that  does  not  pardon  my  boy." 

"My  dear  man,"  responded  the  President,  in  a  voice 
of  gentleness  and  sympathy,  while  he  laid  his  hand  upon 
the  father's  shoulder,  "do  you  suppose  /  will  ever  give 
orders  for  your  boy's  execution?" 

So  anxious  was  Lincoln  that  such  orders  for  suspension 
of  execution  should  promptly  reach  their  destination,  that 
he  frequently  went  in  person  to  the  telegraph-office,  even  as 
late  as  midnight,  and  sent  the  telegram  himself. 

Even  regard  for  good  discipline  could  not  make  him 
deaf  to  the  cry  of  age  or  helplessness  in  distress.  When 
the  President  was  told  that  the  pardoning  of  so  many 


LINCOLN'S  SIMPLICITY  AND   FRIENDLINESS     221 

wrong-doers  was  demoralizing  the  army,  his  prompt  reply 
was:  "But  I  need  it.  When  I  am  worn  and  weary  I  can 
go  to  bed  happy  and  sleep  soundly  after  such  an  act.  It 
rests  me." 

He  could  not  bear  to  think  of  the  execution  of  a  very 
young  soldier.  He  could  not  sleep  if  he  knew  that  such  an 
one  was  to  be  put  to  death  on  the  following  day.  In  one 
case  he  excused  himself  for  suspending  sentence  of  death 
b}^  declaring,  "His  mother  says  he  is  but  seventeen/'  and 
he  pardoned  the  boy  "on  account  of  his  tender  age." 

At  another  time  he  sent  the  following  telegram  to  Gen 
eral  Meade:  "I  am  unwilling  for  any  boy  under  eighteen 
to  be  shot." 

Do  you  wonder  that  the  soldiers  loved  President  Lin 
coln  ?  That  their  glowing  admiration  followed  his  towering 
figure  when  he  honored  them  with  a  visit  to  the  camp? 
And  in  making  friends  of  these  "Boys  in  Blue/'  he  won  his 
way  to  the  hearts  of  thousands  of  fathers  and  mothers 
throughout  the  North  who  had  good  reason  to  bless  the 
name  and  the  memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  in  his  watchful  care  of  the  sol 
diers  Lincoln  was  laying  the  foundation  of  undying  loyalty 
in  countless  homes  throughout  the  Union;  for  he  was  a 
man  of  the  people,  and  when  the  time  came  for  them  to 
speak  they  knew  him  in  whom  they  had  put  their  trust. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
RE-ELECTION  OF  LINCOLN 

ALTHOUGH  the  tide  of  war  had  turned  at  Gettysburg, 
the  crisis  was  not  marked,  as  Lincoln  had  wished,  by  an 
emphatic  wreckage  of  Confederate  hopes.  He  had  watched 
with  earnest  longing  to  see  the  retreating  army  so  over 
whelmed  that  they  would  be  unable  ever  again  to  mass 
their  forces  for  another  encounter.  But,  as  we  have  told 
elsewhere,  Meade  disappointed  his  chief  and  let  Lee  retreat 
safely  into  Virginia. 

You  remember  how  sorely  disappointed  and  exasperated 
the  President  had  been  at  another  escape  of  the  enemy 
after  the  battle  of  Antietam — an  escape  which  seemed  to 
him  needless — and  how  disheartened  he  became  in  his 
long,  vain  search  for  a  responsible  general  to  lead  the  Union 
armies.  But,  as  one  of  his  admirers  said,  "  Lincoln  always 
had  a  card  up  his  sleeve";  and  just  now,  even  in  this  crush 
ing  disappointment,  he  was  not  without  resource.  Vicks- 
burg,  you  remember,  had  fallen  the  day  following  the 
battle  of  Gettysburg,  and  the  President  had  been  watch 
ing,  with  keen  interest,  the  military  progress  of  its  hero, 
General  Ulysses  S.  Grant. 

As  this  resolute  commander  pushed  his  campaign  down 

the  river,  never  resting  until  victory  was  won,  he  held  as 

222 


Lincoln  in  1864. 
From  "Hannibal  Hamlin,"  by  C.  E.  Hamlin. 


223 


224  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

a  magnet  the  anxious  attention  of  the  President;  for  here 
was  a  man  after  his  own  heart.  The  modest  general  was 
too  busy  achieving  to  send  full  reports  of  all  he  was  doing. 
Lincoln  said  of  him,  a  few  weeks  after  the  capture  of  Vicks- 
burg:  "  General  Grant  is  a  copious  worker  and  fighter, 
but  a  very  meagre  writer  and  telegrapher. "  But  the  Presi 
dent  found  a  way  to  get  news  of  what  he  wanted  to  know; 
and  it  was  not  many  weeks  before  he  believed  he  had  found 
the  right  man,  in  the  silent,  aggressive  hero  of  Vicksburg. 

Grant  had  first  recommended  himself  to  the  thoughtful 
notice  of  the  President  at  the  time  of  the  capture  of  Forts 
Henry  and  Donelson,  in  February,  1862,  by  his  reply  to  the 
Confederate  commander  of  Fort  Donelson,  who  had  asked 
for  terms  of  surrender.  Grant  had  promptly  sent  back 
the  answer:  "No  terms  except  unconditional  and  imme 
diate  surrender  can  be  accepted.  I  propose  to  move  imme 
diately  on  your  works."  The  fort  was  surrendered  with 
fifteen  thousand  men.  This  terse  message  must  have  been 
a  refreshing  draught  to  the  commander-in-chief,  at  that 
time  weaned  and  harassed  in  his  vain  prodding  of  the 
overcautious  McClellan.  He  showed  his  appreciation  by 
appointing  Grant  major-general. 

In  the  train  of  success  followed  petty  jealousies,  and 
reports  came  to  the  President  of  Grant's  unfitness  for  his 
position,  his  enemies  accusing  him  of  intemperate  habits. 
Unshaken  in  his  confidence,  Lincoln  replied  to  his  informers: 
"Tell  me  the  brand  of  his  whiskey  and  I  will  send  it 


General  Ulysses  S.  Grant. 


225 


226  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

to  my  other  generals";  and  to  another  he  said:  "This 
man  fights.  I  can't  spare  him." 

In  November,  1863,  after  the  capture  of  Vicksburg, 
by  brilliant  strategy  Grant  overwhelmingly  defeated  Bragg 
at  Chattanooga.  These  achievements  had  so  definitely 
marked  him  for  promotion  that  Lincoln  sent  for  him  in 
the  early  spring  of  1864  to  come  to  Washington,  where  he 
received  the  appointment  of  lieutenant-general,  giving  him 
command,  under  the  direction  of  the  President,  of  all  the 
Union  armies. 

On  March  9,  1864,  the  President  formally  presented  his 
commission  with  these  words: 

"  General  Grant,  the  nation's  appreciation  of  what  you 
have  done,  and  its  reliance  upon  you  for  what  remains  to 
do  in  the  existing  great  struggle,  are  now  presented,  with 
this  commission,  constituting  you  lieutenant-general  in  the 
army  of  the  United  States.  With  this  high  honor  devolves 
upon  you,  also,  a  corresponding  responsibility.  As  the 
country  trusts  you,  so,  under  God,  it  will  sustain  you.  I 
scarcely  need  to  add  that  with  what  I  here  speak  for  the 
nation  goes  my  own  hearty  personal  concurrence." 

General  Grant  replied:  "Mr.  President,  I  accept  with 
gratitude  this  commission  for  the  high  honor  conferred. 
With  the  aid  of  the  noble  armies  that  have  fought  on  so 
many  fields  for  our  common  country,  it  will  be  my  earnest 
endeavor  not  to  disappoint  your  expectations.  I  feel  the 
full  weight  of  the  responsibilities  now  devolving  on  me; 


RE-ELECTION  OF   LINCOLN  227 

and  know  that  if  they  are  met,  it  will  be  due  to  those 
armies,  and  above  all  to  the  favor  of  that  Providence  which 
leads  both  nations  and  men." 

In  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  the  President,  Grant 
was  not  only  to  have  the  entire  military  conduct  of  the 
war,  but  also  the  personal  control  of  the  Virginia  campaign 
against  Lee.  It  is  understood  that  before  accepting  his  ap 
pointment,  Grant  insisted  that  he  must  not  be  interfered 
with  in  his  military  duties.  However  that  may  be;  we 
know  he  was  left  free  to  carry  out  his  own  plans  in  his  own 
way.  Lincoln  himself  offered  suggestions  but  never  gave 
orders.  Having  found  the  man  upon  whose  ability  and 
judgment  he  relied,  he  was  willing  to  trust  him. 

We  get  some  insight  into  the  relations  between  the  two 
men  from  the  notes  they  exchanged  just  before  the  opening 
of  the  campaign,  when  Grant  was  about  to  advance  against 
Lee's  army,  early  in  May. 

The  President's  frank  note  ran  as  follows:  "Not  ex 
pecting  to  see  you  again  before  the  spring  campaign  opens, 
I  wish  to  express  in  this  way  my  entire  satisfaction  with 
what  you  have  done  up  to  this  time,  so  far  as  I  understand 
it.  The  particulars  of  your  plan  I  neither  know  nor  seek 
to  know.  You  are  vigilant  and  self-reliant,  and,  pleased 
with  this,  I  wish  not  to  obtrude  any  constraints  or  re 
straints  upon  you.  While  I  am  very  anxious  that  any  great 
disaster  or  capture  of  our  men  in  great  numbers  shall  be 
avoided,  I  know  these  points  are  less  likely  to  escape  your 


228  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

attention  than  they  would  be  mine.  If  there  is  anything 
wanting  which  is  within  my  power  to  give,  do  not  fail  to 
let  me  know  it.  And  now,  with  a  brave  army  and  a  just 
cause,  may  God  sustain  you." 

General  Grant  made  answer:  "From  my  first  entrance 
into  the  volunteer  service  of  the  country  to  the  present  day, 
I  have  never  had  cause  of  complaint — have  never  expressed 
or  implied  a  complaint  against  the  administration,  or  the 
secretary  of  war,  for  throwing  embarrassment  in  the  way 
of  my  vigorously  prosecuting  what  appeared  to  be  my 
duty.  Indeed,  since  the  promotion  which  placed  me  in 
command  of  all  the  armies,  and  in  view  of  the  great  re 
sponsibility  and  importance  of  success,  I  have  been  aston 
ished  at  the  readiness  with  which  everything  asked  for  has 
been  yielded,  without  even  an  explanation  being  asked. 
Should  my  success  be  less  than  I  desire  and  expect,  the 
least  I  can  say  is,  the  fault  is  not  yours. " 

These  two  notes  reveal  a  mutual  understanding  be 
tween  Grant  and  Lincoln  that  was  most  valuable  in  the 
conduct  of  the  war.  They  were  both  simple,  direct,  honest, 
and  straightforward,  and  each  respected  the  good  qualities 
of  the  other.  It  must  therefore  have  been  with  confidence 
and  keen  satisfaction  that  Lincoln  now  looked  forward 
to  the  outcome  of  the  campaign  as  Grant's  army  started 
south  toward  Richmond. 

This  was  the  first  time  since  the  opening  of  the  war 
that  Lincoln  felt  released  from  the  necessity  of  himself 


RE-ELECTION  OF   LINCOLN 


229 


aiding  in  the  work  of  planning  and  directing  military 
movements.  For  now  he  had  not  only  a  lieutenant- 
general  who  held  the  full  measure  of  his  confidence;  but 
also  tried  and  trusted  generals  in  subordinate  fields.  Next  to 


General  William  T.  Sherman. 


Grant,  General  William  Tecumseh  Sherman,  who  was  to  lead 
the  army  in  the  West,  was  the  most  conspicuous  for  his 
military  successes.  There  were  also  the  dashing  young 
cavalry  leader,  General  Philip  H.  Sheridan  ("Phil"  Sheri 
dan,  as  his  admirers  liked  to  call  him),  who  won  the 
brilliant  victory  at  Cedar  Creek;  and  General  George  H. 


230 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


Thomas,  well-known  as  the  "Rock  of  Chickamauga"  be 
cause  of  his  stubborn  defense  in  that  battle. 

Meantime  Lincoln's  political  problems  were  pressing, 
and  were  affecting  his  prospects  of  re-election.     It  was 

his  earnest  desire  to 
carry  to  a  success 
ful  finish  the  work  of 
the  war.  His  friends 
knew  that  he  wished 
the  nomination,  but 
there  was  opposition 
from  many  quarters. 
With  that  unselfish 
ness  that  was  always 
present  with  him,  he 
said  to  Thurlow 
Weed:  "Is  there  any 
man  in  the  Demo 
cratic  party  who  can 
push  this  war  one 
step  farther  or  faster 
than  I  ?  Because  if  there  is,  I  want  him  to  take  my  place." 
It  is  not  necessary  to  go  into  details  about  all  the  com 
plaints  that  were  made;  although,  as  we  are  to  see  later, 
a  fruitful  cause  of  much  of  the  censure  and  abuse  was  the 
draft. 

All  through  the  dreary,   dragging  months  of  the  war 


General  Philip  H.  Sheridan. 


RE-ELECTION  OF   LINCOLN 


231 


there  had  been  continuous  unfavorable  criticism.  When 
generals  disappointed  and  battles  went  wrong,  the  dissatis 
faction  and  anger  of  all  parties  were  heaped  upon  Lincoln. 
He  was  called  inefficient,  weak,  irresolute.  Murmurs  and 
reproaches  came  from  all  directions  and  centred  on  him. 
One  of  the  most  influential 
leaders  w  o  r k  i n  g  against 
him  was  Horace  Greeley. 
And  at  this  time  he  was 
favoring  the  choice  of  one 
of  Lincoln's  generals  to 
succeed  him.  But  the  gen 
eral  was  loyal  to  Lincoln. 

In  Lincoln's  own  official 
family  was  one  who  aspired 
to  the  Presidency,  even 
though  he  would  be  sup 
planting  his  chief,  and  he 
was  silently  working  to 
that  end.  This  was  Sal 
mon  P.  Chase,  secretary  of  the  treasury.  Although  Lincoln 
knew  of  his  personal  disloyalty,  he  still  held  him  in  office 
because  he  was  a  faithful  servant. 

Another  possible  rival  gave  Lincoln  more  uneasiness, 
for  he  felt  the  man's  worth  and  knew  that  his  success  was 
occasioning  wide-spread  enthusiasm.  This  was  General 
Grant.  But  Grant  was  thoroughly  devoted  to  Lincoln, 


General  George  H.  Thomas. 


232  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

and  said  to  those  who  approached  him  on  the  subject  tnat 
he  would  not  accept  the  nomination  if  it  was  offered  to 
him. 

Through  State  Legislatures  and  caucuses,  however,  the 
people,  more  sagacious  than  their  political  leaders,  were  de 
manding  Lincoln.  They  had  confidence  in  him,  because  he 
had  taken  pains  that  they  should  understand  him.  His 
letters  in  answer  to  public  criticism  had  been  a  powerful 
means  of  acquainting  the  public  with  his  policy,  for  they 
were  always  so  frank  and  so  clearly  and  simply  expressed 
that  they  were  very  convincing. 

His  stories  and  maxims,  too,  went  much  further  than 
studied  arguments.  One  of  his  sayings,  "Never  swap 
horses  while  crossing  a  stream,"  w^as  repeated  by  the  news 
papers  all  over  the  country.  It  appealed  to  the  people's 
sense  of  humor  by  its  quaintness,  and  was  most  helpfully 
applied  at  this  time  to  the  changing  of  Presidents  during 
the  war.  Lincoln's  stories  often  contained  the  strongest 
arguments.  Underlying  them  was  the  convincing  truth 
that  goes  with  solid  reasoning.  He  used  a  story  not  only 
to  clinch  a  point,  but  to  put  a  situation  in  a  concrete  way, 
and  often  by  a  touch  of  humor  to  avert  hard  feeling.  It 
has  well  been  said  that  many  of  his  stories  contained  the 
wisdom  of  ancient  parables. 

But  in  his  story-telling  Lincoln  was  often  misunderstood, 
especially  by  those  who  were  lacking  in  a  sense  of  humor 
themselves.  A  good  example  of  this  appears  in  the  fol- 


RE-ELECTION  OF  LINCOLN  233 

lowing  incident.  On  one  occasion,  when  a  Congressman 
came  to  the  White  House  to  present  to  the  President  a 
serious  complaint,  Lincoln  began  to  tell  a  story.  The  man 
made  an  indignant  protest.  Lincoln,  deeply  pained,  said 
with  feeling:  "I  have  great  confidence  in  you,  and  great 
respect  for  you,  and  I  know  how  sincere  you  are;  but  if 
I  couldn't  tell  these  stories,  I  should  die."  This  simple 
statement  changed  the  Congressman's  indignation  into 
sincere  sympathy  for  President  Lincoln. 

Though  it  was  declared  that  not  one  Republican  in  ten 
of  the  more  earnest  members  of  the  Senate  favored  Lin 
coln,  and  though  the  speaker  of  the  House  said  that  Lin 
coln  had  but  one  strong  political  friend  in  the  House,  yet 
when  the  Republican  National  Convention  met  early  in 
June,  he  received  a  renomination  by  an  overwhelming  ma 
jority  on  the  first  ballot — a  strong  proof  that  the  people 
were  heart  and  soul  with  the  President. 

In  the  meanwhile,  what  of  campaigns  and  battles?  A 
few  words  will  explain  the  military  situation  in  the  summer 
of  1864.  Early  in  May,  as  you  will  recall,  Grant  began  his 
campaign  against  Lee  in  Virginia.  When  he  crossed  the 
Rapidan  and  entered  the  Wilderness,  every  foot  of  his  ad 
vance  was  hotly  contested  by  Lee's  army.  The  fighting 
was  terrible,  and  the  Union  losses  enormous;  but  with  un 
yielding  determination  Grant  pressed  on,  writing  to  the 
President  his  stubborn  resolve:  "I  propose  to  fight  it  out 
on  this  line  if  it  takes  all  summer."  It  did  take  all  summer 


234  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

and  more,  for  Grant  found  it  impossible  to  capture  Rich 
mond  by  attacking  it  on  the  north  side.  He  therefore 
transferred  his  army  across  the  James  River  and  attacked 
the  city  from  the  south. 

But  at  the  end  of  the  summer  Lee  still  held  on.  The 
Union  losses  were  something  like  sixty  thousand.  Some 
said:  "Grant  is  failing."  Many  bitterly  censured  Lincoln 
also.  They  declared,  with  emphasis:  "He  is  not  strong 
enough  for  his  task;  he  is  lacking  in  practical  talent." 

Still  the  bloody  fighting  went  on,  and  Lee  managed  his 
army  with  such  skill  and  his  men  fought  with  such  bravery 
that  Grant  made  only  slow  progress.  The  Confederates 
still  held  Richmond. 

It  was  a  period  of  bitter  disappointment  and  discourage 
ment  for  those  who  were  loyal  to  the  Union  cause.  The 
hostile  critics  declared,  as  they  had  been  doing  for  many 
months,  that  the  military  policy  of  the  administration  was 
a  failure;  that  the  war  had  been  dragging  on  year  after 
year  with  an  enormous  waste  of  material  goods  and  human 
life;  and  that  it  was  dragging  on  because  the  President  was 
weak  as  an  executive. 

Their  attitude  seemed  to  be  justified  because  neither 
Grant  nor  Sherman  had,  up  to  the  last  of  August,  1864, 
done  anything  which  the  country  looked  upon  as  note 
worthy.  To  be  sure,  Grant  had  advanced  toward  Rich 
mond;  but  he  had  not  captured  the  city,  nor  did  it  look  as 
though  he  would  capture  it.  Likewise,  Sherman  had  made 


RE-ELECTION  OF  LINCOLN  235 

a  steady  advance  toward  Atlanta,  but  he  had  not  captured 
Atlanta. 

In  fact;  the  summer  of  1864  was  a  dark  one  for  the 
people  of  the  North.  In  the  midst  of  the  constantly  in 
creasing  gloom  over  the  failure  of  the  Union  armies  a  meet 
ing  of  the  National  Executive  Committee  of  the  Repub 
lican  party  was  held  in  New  York  City.  After  the  meet 
ing  the  chairman  of  the  committee;  Henry  J.  Raymond, 
who  was  editor  of  the  New  York  Times  and  a  loyal  sup 
porter  of  the  administration,  wrote  to  Mr.  Lincoln  as  fol 
lows:  "I  am  in  active  correspondence  with  your  stanchest 
friends  in  every  State,  and  from  them  all  I  hear  but  one  re 
port.  The  tide  is  setting  strongly  against  us."  For  this  un 
fortunate  state  of  affairs  he  gave  two  reasons:  (1)  "the  want 
of  military  success,  and  (2)  the  impression  in  some  minds, 
and  the  fear  and  suspicion  in  others  that  we  are  not  to  have 
peace  in' any  event  under  this  administration,  until  slavery 
is  abandoned.  In  some  way  or  other  the  suspicion  is  widely 
diffused  that  we  can  have  peace  with  Union  if  we  would." 

It  was  August  23,  the  day  on  which  this  letter  probably 
reached  President  Lincoln,  that  he  wrote  upon  a  piece  of 
paper  the  following  memorandum: 

"  EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
"WASHINGTON,  August  23,  1864. 

"This  morning,  as  for  some  days  past,  it  seems  exceed 
ingly  probable  that  this  administration  will  not  be  re- 


236  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

elected.  Then  it  will  be  my  duty  to  so  co-operate  with 
the  President-elect  as  to  save  the  Union  between  the  elec 
tion  and  the  inauguration  as  he  will  have  secured  his  elec 
tion  on  such  ground  that  he  cannot  possibly  save  it  after 
ward. 

"A.  LINCOLN." 

When  his  Cabinet  met  he  handed  the  folded  paper  to 
all  the  members,  who  signed  their  names  on  the  outside 
without  knowing  what  he  had  written. 

Lincoln's  action  in  this  case  was  characteristic.  He 
always  wished  to  keep  faith  with  his  better  self.  He  was 
always  troubled  until  he  had  decided,  after  carefully  weigh 
ing  all  the  facts  involved,  just  what  it  was  right  for  him  to 
do.  But  when  he  had  reached  his  decision,  nothing  could 
turn  him  from  his  purpose. 

Six  days  after  Lincoln  wrote  the  memorandum  men 
tioned  above,  something  occurred  which  caused  much 
anxious  thought  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  friends.  This 
was  the  meeting  in  Chicago  of  the  Democratic  National 
Convention.  There  were  two  strong  factions  present — the 
"War  Democrats/'  and  the  " Peace  Democrats."  The 
latter  was  powerful  enough  to  force  into  the  platform,  al 
though  in  the  face  of  stubborn  and  even  bitter  opposition, 
a  peace  plank.  This  declared  that  "  after  four  years  of 
failure  to  restore  the  Union  by  the  experiment  of  war,  jus 
tice,  humanity,  liberty,  and  the  public  welfare  demand" 


RE-ELECTION  OF   LINCOLN  237 

that  an  immediate  effort  be  made  to  stop  the  fighting  on 
the  battlefield,  and  to  call  a  convention  of  the  States  with 
the  purpose  of  restoring  peace  "at  the  earliest  practicable 
moment"  "on  the  basis  of  the  Federal  Union  of  the  States." 

To  the  extent  of  getting  this  peace  plank  into  the  plat 
form,  then,  the  " Peace  Democrats"  scored  a  point.  But 
the  "War  Democrats"  had  a  greater  success,  for  they 
brought  about  the  nomination  of  their  favorite  candidate, 
General  McClellan.  He  accepted  the  nomination,  but  in 
his  letter  of  acceptance  he  expressly  repudiated  the  so. 
called  peace  plank. 

Amid  all  this  political  doubt  and  fear  the  President 
never  wavered.  He  was  determined,  above  all  else  and  at 
whatever  cost,  to  save  the  Union.  The  cost  would  surely 
be  heavy,  both  in  money  and  men.  But  he  would  save  it 
even  if  he  had  to  resort  to  another  draft;  or,  as  his  enemies 
said,  to  act  the  part  of  a  military  dictator  by  authorizing 
arbitrary  arrests  of  people  who  criticised  the  government, 
or  by  stopping  for  a  time  the  publication  of  hostile  news 
papers.  His  present  unpopularity  with  this  group  of  critics 
was  due  to  his  already  having  resorted  to  such  measures, 
and  especially  to  the  draft.  To  make  this  clear,  let  us  go 
back  a  little. 

When  the  war  broke  out,  more  volunteers  offered  their 
services  than  were  thought  necessary.  But  before  the  end 
of  the  second  year,  the  war  had  grown  so  unpopular  or 
doubtful  of  result  that  volunteering  had  almost  entirely 


238  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

ceased.  So  few  battles  had  been  won  by  Union  armies 
that  men  lost  heart;  and  besides,  nearly  all  the  young  men 
without  families  to  support  had  already  gone  into  the  war, 
so  that  volunteering,  now,  meant  a  severe  sacrifice. 

To  meet  the  serious  situation,  Congress  passed  a  Con 
scription  Act  in  March,  1863.  The  draft  itself,  which  af 
fected  all  able-bodied  male  citizens  between  eighteen  and 
forty-five  years  of  age,  was  begun  in  the  early  part  of  the 
following  summer.  The  result  in  New  York  City  was  a 
terrible  riot  lasting  four  days.  Before  it  could  be  brought 
under  military  control  the  mob,  in  its  savage  madness  and 
fury,  had  destroyed  property  to  the  value  of  one  million  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  something  like  one  thousand 
people  had  been  killed  or  wounded,  many  of  whom  were 
negroes.  Governor  Seymour,  of  New  York  State,  urged 
President  Lincoln  to  suspend  the  draft.  But  Mr.  Lincoln 
wisely  refused;  the  necessity  was  imperative. 

Moreover,  in  1864  he  ordered  further  drafts,  simply 
because  he  saw  no  other  way  to  supply  the  Union  armies 
with  much-needed  men.  One  of  these  drafts,  which  was 
for  five  hundred  thousand  men,  was  ordered  by  Lincoln  to 
take  place  in  September.  The  shocking  losses  on  the 
battle-field,  especially  in  Grant's  army  in  Virginia,  had  so 
depleted  the  Union  armies  that  more  men  were  absolutely 
necessary.  Knowing  that  this  draft  was  so  odious  to  the 
people  that  it  might  injure  Lincoln's  chances  of  election, 
some  of  his  friends  urged  him  to  suspend  it  until  after 


RE-ELECTION   OF   LINCOLN 


239 


election  day.     But  he  was  not  the  man  to  think  of  his  own 
interests  if  they  interfered  with  the  interests  of  the  coun- 


Draft  Riot  in  New  York  City. 


try.     So  he  persisted  in  issuing  the  draft,  although  in  so 
doing  he  knew  he  was  risking  his  own  re-election. 

In  the  midst  of  the  uncertainty  and  discouragement  of 


240  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  hour,  suddenly  the  sunlight  broke  through  the  clouds, 
for  in  August  Farragut  destroyed  the  forts  in  Mobile  Bay, 
and  cut  off  the  city  from  the  outside  world;  in  September 
Sherman  captured  Atlanta;  and  in  October  Sheridan,  in  a 
series  of  crushing  victories,  cleared  the  Shenandoah  Valley 
of  the  enemy.  These  victories  were  most  timely.  They 
not  only  changed  the  military  outlook,  but  they  assured 
Lincoln's  success  at  the  polls,  early  in  November.  Out  of 
a  total  of  two  hundred  and  thirty-two  presidential  electors 
chosen,  two  hundred  and  eleven  favored  Lincoln.  It  was 
a  splendid  indorsement  by  the  people,  and  gave  him  the 
longed-for  opportunity  to  finish  his  work. 

As  we  should  expect,  he  accepted  the  well-earned  tribute 
in  a  truly  modest  spirit.  When  on  the  night  following 
his  election  he  reached  the  White  House  (about  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning),  he  found  a  party  of  serenaders  waiting 
for  a  speech.  With  characteristic  honesty  and  simplicity, 
he  said  to  them:  "My  friends,  if  I  know  my  heart,  my 
gratitude  is  free  from  any  intent  of  personal  triumph. 
I  do  not  impugn  the  motive  of  any  one  who  opposed  me. 
It  is  no  pleasure  for  me  to  triumph  over  any  one,  but  I 
give  thanks  to  the  Almighty  for  this  evidence  of  the 
people's  resolution  to  stand  by  free  government  and  the 
rights  of  humanity. " 


CHAPTER  XIV 
LAST  DAYS  OF   A  GREAT  LIFE 

THE  second  inauguration  of  Lincoln  took  place  with 
out  unusual  incident  on  March  4,  1865.  The  event  is 
marked  especially  by  the  beauty  of  his  inaugural  address, 
which  is  known  as  the  Second  Inaugural.  This  was  one 
of  the  noblest  State  papers  ever  written,  and  in  its  ten 
derness  almost  prophetic.  Passing  lightly  over  the  matter 
of  his  policies,  which,  he  said,  were  too  well  known  to  be 
discussed,  he  closed  with  a  passage  that  has  come  to  be 
regarded  as  a  classic  of  our  language.  The  words  fell  like 
a  benediction  upon  those  who  heard  them.  They  were 
like  the  parting  counsel  of  a  father  spoken  to  those  he 
loves,  and  proved  to  be  in  reality  a  farewell  to  the  Ameri 
can  people: 

"With  malice  toward  none;  with  charity  for  all;  with 
firmness  in  the  right,  as  God  gives  us  to  see  the  right — let 
us  strive  on  to  finish  the  work  we  are  in;  to  bind  up  the 
nation's  wounds;  to  care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the 
battle,  and  for  his  widow  and  his  orphan;  to  do  all  which 
may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  lasting  peace  among 
ourselves  and  with  all  nations." 

The  message  reveals  clearly  the  depth  and  strength  of 
Lincoln's  religious  nature,  which  is  traceable  in  all  the  crises 

241 


242 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


of  his  life.  It  harks  back  to  the  early  days,  when  his  soul 
was  attuned  to  nature  and  God  in  the  vast  solitudes  of  the 
wilderness.  There  we  can  see  him  as  a  little  lad  kneeling 
with  his  mother  and  sister  at  a  small  grave  in  the  Kentucky 
woodland.  Again,  in  the  Indiana  clearing  we  see  him  at 


Lincoln's  Second  Inauguration,  March  4,  1865. 

the  bedside  of  that  dying  Christian  mother,  and  feel  that 
his  spirit  is  answering  back  to  hers  as  the  door  opens  for 
her  on  the  eternal  mysteries  and  she  bids  her  son  good-by. 
Along  through  the  years  of  his  early  manhood,  in  all 
his  relations  of  life,  private  and  public,  there  is  evident  a 
deep  and  constant  sense  of  duty  and  of  trust  in  a  higher 
power.  This  abiding  faith  is  most  clearly  manifested  in  the 
stormy,  tempestuous  years  of  his  life  in  the  White  House. 


Lincoln  in  1865. 
From  a  photograph  by  Brady. 


243 


244  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

When  he  entered  upon  his  duties  as  President,  it  seemed 
to  the  world  that  our  nation  was  intrusting  her  destiny  to 
an  uncertain  pilot  in  a  frail  bark.  Even  his  friends  were 
fearful.  But  in  Lincoln's  soul  there  was  no  doubt.  His 
farewell  words  to  his  friends  and  neighbors  on  that  chilly 
February  morning  in  1861,  "Without  the  assistance  of  that 
Divine  Being  ...  I  cannot  succeed;  with  that  assistance, 
I  cannot  fail/'  show  the  source  of  the  strength  and  calm 
ness  which  never  forsook  him. 

As  defeat  followed  defeat,  and  one  disaster  crowded 
upon  another  in  the  early  days  of  the  war,  his  faith  and 
courage  never  wavered.  In  one  of  the  darkest  hours,  when 
the  Merrimac  threatened  to  destroy  the  Union  fleet  and 
the  country  was  in  panic,  we  hear  the  clear,  calm  voice  of 
Lincoln  declaring:  "I  have  not  the  slightest  fear  of  any 
result  which  shall  fatally  impair  our  military  and  naval 
strength.  This  is  God's  fight,  and  he  will  win  in  his  own 
good  time.  He  will  take  care  our  enemies  do  not  press  us 
too  far."  At  another  time  he  said:  "I  have  been  driven 
to  my  knees  many  times  by  the  overwhelming  conviction 
that  I  have  nowhere  else  to  go." 

The  week  after  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  General  Sickles, 
who  had  been  in  the  battle,  asked  Mr.  Lincoln  if  he  had  not 
been  anxious  during  the  Gettysburg  campaign. 

Mr.  Lincoln  replied:   "I  had  no  fear." 

"How  could  that  be?"  asked  the  general. 

"In  the  pinch  of  your  campaign  up  there,"  replied  Lin- 


LAST  DAYS  OF   A  GREAT  LIFE  245 

coin,  "when  everybody  seemed  panic-stricken  and  nobody 
could  tell  what  was  going  to  happen,  I  went  into  my  room 
one  day  and  locked  the  door,  and  got  down  on  my  knees 
before  Almighty  God  and  prayed  to  him  mightily  for  a 
victory  at  Gettysburg.  I  told  God  that  if  we  were  to  win 
the  battle  he  must  do  it,  for  I  had  done  all  I  could.  I  told 
him  this  was  his  war,  and  our  cause  was  his  cause,  but 
that  we  couldn't  stand  another  Fredericksburg  or  Chancel 
lors  ville.  And  then  and  there  I  made  a  solemn  vow  to 
Almighty  God  that  if  he  would  stand  by  our  boys  at  Gettys 
burg  I  would  stand  by  him.  And  he  did,  and  I  will.  And 
after  that — I  don't  know  how  it  was,  and  I  can't  explain 
it — but  soon  a  sweet  comfort  crept  into  my  soul  that  things 
would  go  all  right  at  Gettysburg,  and  that  is  why  I  had 
no  fears  about  you." 

It  has  been  well  said  that  Lincoln  lived  in  the  spirit. 
Of  creeds  and  dogmas  he  was  no  lover.  He  said:  "When 
ever  any  church  will  inscribe  over  its  altar  as  a  qualification 
of  membership  the  Saviour's  statement  of  the  substance  of 
the  law  and  gospel,  'Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy 
mind,  and  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,'  that  church  will  I  join 
with  all  my  heart  and  soul." 

Holding  firmly  to  the  belief  that,  if  we  do  right,  God 
will  be  with  us,  and  if  God  is  with  us  we  cannot  fail,  it  was 
a  sore  trial  and  perplexity  to  him  that  the  Union  cause 
was  so  slow  in  winning.  He  believed  it  was  a  righteous 


246  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

cause,  and  yet  God  did  not  bring  victory  to  the  Union 
armies.  After  pondering  long,  he  reached  the  conclusion 
that  the  Civil  War  was  a  punishment  to  the  American  peo 
ple,  both  North  and  South,  for  the  crime  of  enslaving  the 
negroes.  This  belief  is  clearly  set  forth  in  the  Second  In 
augural,  in  which  he  says:  "The  Almighty  has  his  own 
purposes.  ...  If  we  shall  suppose  that  American  slavery 
is  one  of  those  offenses  which,  in  the  providence  of  God, 
must  needs  come  .  .  .  and  that  he  gives  to  both  North 
and  South  this  terrible  war  as  the  woe  due  to  those  by 
whom  the  offense  came,  shall  we  discern  therein  any  de 
parture  from  those  divine  attributes  which  the  believers  in 
a  living  God  ascribe  to  him  ?  Fondly  do  we  hope  .  .  .  that 
this  mighty  scourge  of  war  may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet,  if 
God  wills  that  it  continue  until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the 
bondman's  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unrequited  toil 
shall  be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of  blood  drawn  with 
the  lash  shall  be  paid  by  another  drawn  with  the  sword,  as 
said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be  said:  'The 
judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous  altogether.7  ' 
In  less  than  a  month  after  Lincoln's  second  inauguration 
Grant  had  succeeded  in  forcing  Lee  out  of  Richmond  (April 
2).  Lee  then  retreated  westward  with  the  purpose  of  join 
ing  General  Johnston,  who  was  moving  toward  him  from 
the  south.  But  Grant  followed  closely  to  catch  up  with 
Lee  before  the  two  armies  could  unite;  and  it  seemed 
inevitable  that  Lee's  surrender  must  come  soon. 


LAST  DAYS  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE 


247 


In  anticipation  of  this  important  event,  concerning 
which  it  seemed  desirable  that  he  should  have  personal 
conferences  with  the  commanding  general,  late  in  March 
Lincoln  visited  Grant's  headquarters  at  City  Point,  on  the 
James  River.  Soon  after  his  arrival  Mrs.  Lincoln  and  Tad 
joined  him,  and  his  son  Robert  came  from  Harvard  to  ex- 


Landing  Supplies  at  City  Point. 

perience  something  of  the  soldier's  life  as  a  member  of 
Grant's  staff. 

During  his  stay  Lincoln  often  rode  with  Grant  miles 
and  miles  over  the  corduroy  roads  of  the  swamps,  while  at 
night  he  sat  by  the  camp-fire  and  exchanged  stories  with 
the  officers.  Believing  that  the  long  period  of  fighting  was 
near  its  close,  he  seemed  to  enjoy  a  sense  of  freedom  from 
the  nerve- wearing  anxiety  of  the  White  House. 


248  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

On  hearing  of  Lee's  retreat  he  said:  "I  must  see  Rich 
mond."  When  he  reached  the  city  he  found  disorder,  con 
fusion  ,  and  chaos  everywhere.  Although  he  knew  that  his 
life  was  in  danger  in  the  Confederate  capital,  he  walked, 
for  a  mile  and  a  half  through  the  streets,  leading  Tad  by 
the  hand,  with  no  guard  except  ten  marines. 

As  he  passed  along,  the  negroes  crowded  about  him  in 
their  eagerness  to  touch  his  garments.  Some  with  tears. of 
gratitude  fell  upon  their  knees  at  his  feet,  as  in  worship. 
But  he  said,  "Do  not  kneel  to  me;  that  is  not  right";  and 
then,  gently:  "God  bless  you,  and  let  me  pass  on." 

When  the  party  entered  the  building  which  was  used 
as  Union  headquarters,  and  which  had  been  also  the  official 
residence  of  the  Confederate  President,  some  one  remarked 
to  Lincoln:  "Jefferson  Davis  ought  to  be  hanged."  The 
forbearing  President  promptly  responded:  "Judge  not, 
that  ye  be  not  judged."  When,  a  few  days  later,  Mrs. 
Lincoln  remarked  to  a  friend  that  the  national  capital  was 
"filled  with  our  enemies,"  the  President,  hearing  her  words, 
raised  his  arm  and  with  a  lack  of  his  usual  gentleness  and 
patience,  retorted:  "Enemies!  We  must  never  speak  of 
that."  Even  in  the  hour  of  victory  he  harbored  no  bitter 
ness  against  any  human  being,  and  was  strongly  opposed 
to  harsh  measures  against  the  Confederate  leaders. 

This  is  plainly  indicated  in  his  plan  to  restore  peaceful 
relations  between  the  warring  sections  of  the  Union  with  as 
little  friction  as  possible.  In  his  plan  of  reconstruction, 


LAST  DAYS  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE 


249 


Lincoln  Visiting  Richmond. 


which  he  had  been  for  many  months  forecasting,  he  dis 
played  not  only  freedom  from  '"malice"  toward  the  Con 
federate  States,  but  also  his  exceptional  and  marked  prac- 


250  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

tical  common  sense.  "We  all  agree/'  he  declared;  "that 
the  seceded  States,  so-called,  are  out  of  their  proper  prac 
tical  relation  with  the  Union,  and  that  the  sole  object  of 
the  government,  civil  and  military,  in  regard  to  these  States, 
is  to  again  get  them  into  the  proper  practical  relation.  I 
believe  that  it  is  not  only  possible,  but  in  fact  easier  to  do 
this  without  deciding  or  even  considering  whether  these 
States  have  ever  been  out  of  the  Union  than  with  it.  Find 
ing  themselves  safely  at  home,  it  would  be  utterly  im 
material  whether  they  have  ever  been  abroad.-" 

But  Lincoln  could  not  wait  at  City  Point  for  the  final 
act  in  the  great  campaign,  being  called  back  to  Washington 
by  an  accident  to  Secretary  Seward.  By  the  time  he 
reached  Washington,  however,  Lee  had  surrendered  (April 
9),  and  the  capital  was  already  rejoicing. 

Everywhere  in  the  North  there  was  unbounded  enthusi 
asm,  for  Lee's  surrender  meant  that  the  war  was  practically 
at  an  end.  But  to  no  one  could  it  mean  so  much  as  to  the 
worn  and  harassed  President.  The  strain  of  the  load  he  had 
carried  during  the  terrible  years  of  the  war  was  written 
in  the  unspeakable  sadness  of  his  countenance.  On  one 
occasion  he  said,  in  weariness  of  spirit,  "I  feel  as  though 
I  shall  never  be  glad  anymore";  on  another  he  remarked, 
with  his  whimsical  smile:  "I  wish  George  Washington  or 
some  other  old  patriot  were  here  to  take  my  place  for  a 
while,  so  that  I  could  have  a  little  rest." 

But  after  it  became  certain  that  the  war  would  end  in 


LAST  DAYS  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE 


251 


favor  of  the  Union,  there  came  a  marked  change  in  his 
looks  and  ways.  His  face  brightened,  and  he  began  to  ap 
pear  more  like  the  light-hearted  Lincoln  of  former  days. 
Again,  also,  he  took  a  special  interest  in  all  that  suggested 
peace  and  repose.  He 
enjoyed  reading  over 
and  over  poems  that 
spoke  of  things  serene 
and  peaceful.  He  liked 
to  linger  in  quiet  spots. 
Many  years  later 
Mrs.  Lincoln  told  the 
following  incident, 
which  took  place  while 
they  were  still  at 
Grant's  headquarters 
in  Virginia :  They  were 
driving  one  day  along 
the  James  River  and 
came  to  a  country 
cemetery.  It  was  a 
quiet,  shaded  spot. 
They  got  out  of  their  carriage  and  walked  among  the 
graves,  Mr.  Lincoln  looking  serious  and  thoughtful.  In  a 
few  moments  he  said  to  his  wife:  "Mary,  you  are  younger 
than  I.  You  will  survive  me.  When  I  am  gone,  lay  my 
remains  in  some  quiet  spot  like  this." 


General  Grant  and  Mrs.  Grant  with  their  Son 
at  City  Point,  Va. 


252  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Again  in  Washington,  the  President  at  once  set  in  mo 
tion  the  formal  business  of  closing  the  war.  His  first  mea 
sure  was  an  order  suspending  the  draft,  and  this  was  pub 
lished  in  the  newspapers  of  Friday  morning,  April  14. 

Great  joy  spread  like  a  tidal  wave  over  the  country. 
The  cry,  "Lee  has  surrendered — the  war  is  over!"  was  re 
peated  again  and  again.  It  broke  on  every  town,  village, 
and  wayside  settlement  until  it  seemed  as  if  the  winds 
of  heaven  had  taken  it  up  and  tossed  it  back  and  forth. 
Perils  and  hardships  and  all  the  black  evil  of  war  were 
for  the  time  forgotten.  In  countless  homes  mothers  wept 
and  laughed  in  turn,  as  they  thought  of  the  home-coming 
of  their  boys.  Even  those  who  had  lost  their  dear  ones 
were  glad  that  the  turmoil  would  soon  end,  and  that  they 
had  not  sacrificed  their  treasure  in  vain.  Bells  were  rung, 
flags  were  unfurled,  and  the  national  colors,  decorating 
buildings  and  waving  from  flagstaffs  on  every  side,  never 
appeared  more  beautiful. 

It  was  a  happy  people  that  gave  welcome  to  this  Good 
Friday  of  April  14,  1865.  The  day,  usually  observed  by 
many  with  fasting  and  prayer,  was  on  this  occasion  filled 
with  a  spirit  of  profound  thanksgiving.  Spring  and  hope 
were  in  the  warm  sunshine  and  balmy  air,  while  budding 
trees  and  blooming  flowers  symbolized  the  joy  that  was 
blossoming  again  in  human  hearts.  Nothing  gave  hint  of 
the  awful  tragedy  that  was  so  soon  to  bring  gloom  to  the 
country. 


LAST  DAYS  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE  253 

Grant  had  arrived  in  Washington  that  morning  to  be 
present  at  the  Cabinet  meeting,  held  as  usual  on  Friday. 
Many  questions  were  asked  regarding  the  safety  of  Gen 
eral  Sherman,  for  it  was  thought  that  he  was  on  the  point 
of  meeting  in  battle  with  General  Johnston  somewhere  in 
the  Carolinas.  Several  of  the  Cabinet  were  anxious  about 
the  situation,  but  Lincoln  was  not.  He  said  he  was  sure 
that  good  news  would  come  from  that  quarter,  because  he 
had  dreamed  the  night  before  the  same  dream  that  had 
come  to  him  several  times  on  the  eve  of  great  battles.  It 
had  preceded  the  battles  of  Murfreesboro,  Antietam, 
Gettysburg,  and  Vicksburg.  He  had  no  doubt  that  a 
battle  had  taken  place,  or  soon  would  take  place,  and  he 
went  on:  " Johnston  will  be  beaten,  for  I  had  this  strange 
dream  again  last  night.  It  must  relate  to  Sherman;  my 
thoughts  are  in  that  direction  and  I  know  of  no  other  very 
important  event  which  is  likely  just  now  to  occur"  Fateful 
dream !  It  was  the  forerunner  of  a  catastrophe  greater 
than  any  battle  of  the  war. 

The  day  was  a  happy  one  for  Mr.  Lincoln.  Captain 
Robert  Lincoln  was  home  from  service  under  General 
Grant,  and  father  and  son  had  an  hour's  talk  over  the  cam 
paign.  That  afternoon  the  President  and  his  wife  took  a 
long  drive.  His  mood  was  very  cheerful  and  tender.  While 
they  were  out  together  he  said:  "Mary,  we  have  had  a 
hard  time  of  it  since  we  came  to  Washington;  but  the  war 
is  over,  and  with  God's  blessing  we  may  hope  for  four 


254  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

years  of  peace  and  happiness,  and  then  we  will  go  back  to 
Illinois,  and  pass  the  rest  of  our  lives  in  quiet.  I  will  open 
a  law  office  at  Springfield  or  Chicago,  and  practise  law,  and 
at  least  do  enough  to  help  give  us  a  livelihood." 

Never  had  Lincoln  seemed  in  happier  spirit  than  on 
this  day  of  great  triumph.  His  heart  was  filled  with  grati 
tude  to  God,  and  overflowed  in  love  and  kindness  to  his 
fellow  men. 

We  like  to  dwell  on  this  brief  period  of  his  life,  when 
the  heavy  burdens  of  the  war  lifted,  and  the  joy  of  achieved 
purpose  reflected  itself  in  his  lightened  countenance  and 
cheerful  bearing.  Stanton  said  of  him:  "I  never  saw  him 
so  happy."  But  his  wife,  more  apprehensive,  said:  "I 
never  saw  you  like  this  except  before  our  dear  Willie  died.'7 

Mrs.  Lincoln's  illusive  foreboding  soon  gave  place  to 
shocking  reality.  She  had  arranged  a  theatre-party  for  that 
evening  at  Ford's  Theatre,  in  honor  of  General  and  Mrs. 
Grant,  who  were  guests  at  the  White  Housa.  The  papers 
had  announced  that  they  were  to  occupy  a  box.  But,  as 
General  and  Mrs.  Grant  decided  to  go  North,  Miss  Harris 
and  Major  Rathbun,  daughter  and  stepson  of  Senator 
Ira  Harris,  were  invited  to  take  their  places.  When  eve 
ning  came,  Lincoln  seemed  loath  to  go,  but  he  said:  "The 
people  will  be  disappointed,"  and  so  the  plan  was  carried 
out. 

The  President's  party  did  not  reach  the  theatre  until 
after  the  play,  "The  American  Cousin,"  had  begun.  When 


The  Last  Portrait  of  Lincoln. 
From  a  photograph  by  Alexander  Gardner.    Copyright  by  Watson  Porter, 


256  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

they  entered,  the  band  struck  up  "Hail  to  the  Chief/7 
There  was  great  enthusiasm.  The  audience  cheered,  the 
men  waved  their  hats  and  the  women  their  handkerchiefs, 
the  action  of  the  play  being  suspended  meanwhile.  The 
party  in  the  box  laid  aside  their  wraps  and  turned,  smiling 
and  bowing,  as  they  took  their  seats. 

During  the  play  Mr.  Lincoln,  who  occupied  an  arm 
chair  near  the  railing  in  plain  sight  of  the  audience,  chatted 
in  a  genial  way  with  the  members  of  his  party,  and  laughed 
with  the  audience  at  the  flashes  of  humor  in  the  dialogue. 

During  the  third  act,  had  the  audience  been  watching, 
they  might  have  observed  a  dark,  handsome  young  man 
going  along  the  corridor  and  entering  the  passage  which  led 
to  the  President's  box.  It  was  the  actor,  John  Wilkes 
Booth,  an  extreme  secessionist,  excited  by  hate  at  the  down 
fall  of  his  cause.  Having  entered,  he  closed  the  door  and 
fastened  it  so  that  it  could  not  be  opened  from  the  outside. 
Then  stealthily  entering  the  box,  he  took  deliberate  aim 
and  shot  the  President  in  the  back  of  the  head. 

Major  Rathbun  at  once  grappled  with  the  assassin,  and 
received  a  deep  and  wide  wound  in  his  arm  from  the  knife 
Booth  carried  in  his  left  hand.  The  murderer,  tearing  him 
self  away,  leaped  from  the  box  to  the  stage.  In  so  doing 
he  caught  the  spur  of  his  left  foot  in  the  silken  flag  draping 
the  box,  and  fell  so  heavily  that  he  broke  his  leg.  But  he 
was  able  to  get  to  his  feet,  and,  limping  across  the  stage, 
he  faced  the  audience  and  shouted:  "Sic  semper  tyrannis  !" 


LAST  DAYS  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE  257 

("Thus  be  it  always  to  tyrants!")  Then,  before  any  one 
could  reach  him;  he  rushed  through  a  familiar  exit  to  the 
street,  where  a  horse  awaited  him. 

The  audience  was  at  first  startled,  then  stunned,  as  it 
realized  what  had  happened.  The  shot — a  woman's  cry— 
a  cloud  of  smoke — all  had  taken  place  in  a  moment  of  time. 
Major  Rathbun's  shout,  "Stop  him!  He  has  shot  the 
President!"  roused  them  to  the  horror  of  the  situation. 
Then  in  helpless  rage  and  grief  some  rushed  shouting  to  the 
stage  in  pursuit  of  the  murderer — others  ran  to  the  box. 
Surgeons  came,  and  the  silent  figure  of  the  President  was 
borne  from  the  theatre  to  the  street,  and  across  the  way  to 
the  nearest  house. 

There,  in  a  small  room,  he  was  laid  unconscious  upon  the 
bed.  He  lingered  throughout  the  night,  tenderly  watched 
by  those  about  him — his  family,  members  of  the  Cabinet, 
and  other  friends.  A  little  after  seven  the  next  morning  he 
died.  As  he  breathed  his  last  Secretary  Stanton,  who 
had  become  Lincoln's  devoted  friend,  said :  "  Now  he  belongs 
to  the  ages." 

All  night,  while  the  spirit  of  the  President  was  passing 
into  the  unseen,  Washington  had  been  in  a  ferment  of  con 
fusion  and  horror.  Messengers  had  been  hurrying  hither 
and  yon,  spreading  the  news  and  bearing  orders  from  the 
secretary  of  war,  who  at  once  put  the  city  under  military 
control. 

Next  morning  all  the  papers  gave  news  of  the  tragedy. 


258  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

The  shock  and  horror  of  it  spread  everywhere.  A  pall  of 
silence  fell  over  the  people,  and  they  walked  with  bowed 
heads  and  whitened  faces.  In  Xew  York  shops  were  closed. 
All  business  was  suspended.  The  joy  of  yesterday  was 
forgotten  in  the  universal  sorrow.  Flags  and  bunting 
gave  place  to  emblems  of  grief  and  mourning.  From  the 
Battery  to  the  Park,  public  buildings  and  private  dwellings 
were  draped  in  black.  Even  the  meanest  hovel  in  the 
poorest  quarter  displayed  some  token,  however  simple,  of 
sorrow^  for  the  death  of  the  President.  Similar  signs  of 
mourning  were  visible  in  all  the  great  cities  of  the  North, 
and  in  all  the  towns  and  villages.  The  general  grief  spread 
even  to  the  remote  farms.  All  classes,  especially  the  plain 
people,  felt  that  they  had  lost  a  friend. 

On  the  following  Wednesday,  w^hile  funeral  services  were 
being  held  at  twelve  o'clock  in  the  White  House,  business 
was  suspended,  and  similar  sendees  were  conducted  in 
churches  throughout  the  North.  Thus  in  unison  did  the 
people  of  the  nation  pay  their  last  formal  tribute  of  devo 
tion  to  the  martyred  President. 

The  next  morning,  the  funeral  train  bearing  the  body  of 
Abraham  Lincoln  to  its  last  resting-place,  near  Springfield, 
Illinois,  started  on  its  sad  journey  of  nearly  two  thousand 
miles.  The  route  was  almost  the  same  as  that  by  which, 
as  President-elect,  he  had  come  to  Washington  a  little  more 
than  four  years  before. 

As  the  funeral   cortege  passed  on  its  way  there  were 


LAST  DAYS  OF   A  GREAT  LIFE 


259 


almost  continuous  demonstrations  of  sorrow.  In  the  large 
centres  the  funeral  train  rested,  the  casket  was  borne  through 
the  streets,  and  the  body  of  the  President  lay  in  state,  while 


The  National  Lincoln  Monument  at  Springfield,  Illinois. 

an  innumerable  throng  gazed  upon  the  face  of  their  dead 
hero.  Even  at  the  smallest  country  stations  the  people,  in 
reverent  silence,  stood  with  bared  heads  and  tear-filled  eyes 
as  the  funeral  train  moved  by.  The  silent  dead  passed  be 
tween  continuous  walls  of  living  people.  Day  or  night, 


260  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

rain  or  shine,  there  was  the  same  constant  attendance,  and 
the  sombre  emblems  of  mourning  along  the  route  were  only 
less  impressive  than  the  crowds  of  grief-stricken  people. 

But  the  most  tender  of  all  the  expressions  of  love  and 
sorrow  came  from  those  who  had  been  his  friends  and 
neighbors  before  he  was  called  to  the  White  House.  As 
they  looked  upon  his  familiar  face  for  the  last  time,  they 
thought  of  him,  not  as  the  emancipator  of  the  slaves,  nor 
as  President  of  the  United  States,  but  as  one  who  in  earlier 
years  had  been  kind  and  helpful  in  a  thousand  ways. 

Even  though  Lincoln  has  taken  his  place  among  the 
immortals,  his  memory  still  lives  and  his  influence  pervades 
the  life  of  the  nation  whose  leader  he  was.  What  it  was  in 
his  great  soul  that  enabled  him,  untutored  and  untrained 
in  conventional  ways,  to  control  for  four  years  the  destiny 
of  a  great  people,  we  may  not  understand.  But  we  may 
recognize  in  his  righteous  purpose,  his  clear  understanding, 
his  wise  judgment,  his  earnest  efforts  to  do  what  was  right, 
the  means  by  which  he  reached  his  goal.  With  unflinching 
devotion  he  pushed  resolutely  forward,  never  changing,  never 
swerving,  when  he  believed  he  was  in  the  right,  no  matter 
what  ridicule  or  abuse  was  heaped  upon  his  head.  Many 
times  he  was  cut  to  the  quick  by  an  ungrateful  nation,  or 
an  unworthy  follower;  but  to  know  his  duty  and  to  do  it 
were  his  sole  concern. 

Although  inflexible  in  the  path  of  duty,  he  never  failed 


LAST  DAYS  OF  A  GREAT  LIFE  261 

in  his  gentle  forgiveness  of  those  who  wronged  him,  and  in 
his  sympathetic  care  of  those  who  sought  his  help.  He 
was  a  father  to  the  soldiers,  a  friend  to  the  widowed  and 
the  orphaned,  and  he  yearned  to  enfold  the  nation  in  his 
protecting  care. 

He  was  so  simple  and  modest  in  manner,  that  those 
with  whom  he  walked  did  not  realize  his  greatness.  But 
when  death  suddenly  removed  him,  the  world  by  a  quick 
instinct  recognized  him  as  one  of  the  greatest  of  men.  It 
beheld  a  conqueror  who  had  led  the  nation  through  many 
perils,  achieving  his  purpose  and  accomplishing  his  task. 
"With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all,"  he  had 
saved  the  Union  and  had  freed  the  slaves. 


INDEX 


ANDERSON,  ROBERT,  151 
Antietam,  battle  of,  180,  190 
Armstrong,  Hannah,  49 
Armstrong,  Jack,  40,  49 

BATES,  EDWARD,  114 
Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  130 
Black  Hawk  War,  44-48 
Booth,  John  Wilkes,  256,  257 
Border  States,  the,  141,  142,  163,  164, 

172,  173 

Breckinridge,  John  C.,  124 
Bryant,  William  Cullen,  107 
Buchanan,  James,  129,  139 
Bull  Run,  battle  of,  154-156 
Burnside,  Ambrose  E.,  192 

CALHOUN,  JOHN,  54 
Cameron,  Simon,  114,  201 
Chancellorsville,  battle  of,  195-197 
Chase,  Salmon  P.,  114,  116 
Compromise  of  1850,  90 
Crittenden,  John  J.,  127,  129 
Crittenden  Compromise,  128 

DAVIS,  DAVID,  79,  80 

Davis,  Jefferson,  248 

Donelson,  Fort,  224 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  90,  96-105,  116, 

124,  140 

Draft,  the,  237,  239 
Dred  Scott  Decision,  101 

EDWARDS,  NINIAN,  66 
Emancipation,  162-187 
Everett,  Edward,  203,  206 

FARRAGUT,  DAVID  GLASGOW,  240 
Field,  David  Dudley,  107 
Fredericksburg,  battle  of,  192 
Fremont,  John  C.,  162 


GILMER,  JOHN  A.,  126 

Graham,  Mentor,  42,  43,  55 

Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  202,  222-228,  233, 

234,  238,  247 
Greeley,  Horace,  107,  176 

HALLECK,  HENRY  W.,  197,  199 

Hanks,  Dennis,  9,  17,  22,  29,  111 

Hanks,  John,  15,  31 

Hanks,  Joseph,  2 

Herndon,  William  H.,  94,  95,  201 

Hooker,  Joseph,  192-197 

Hunter,  David,  163 

JACKSON,  THOMAS  J.,  170 
Johnston,  John,  35,  38 

KANSAS-NEBRASKA  BILL,  90-92 

LAMON,  WARD  H.,  138 
Lee,  Robert  E.,   180,   199-202,  234, 
241,  248,  250 

LINCOLN,  ABRAHAM,  his  birthplace,  1 ; 
ignorant  of  his  ancestors,  2;  the 
family  moves  to  Knob  Creek,  4; 
early  years  in  Kentucky,  5;  the 
family  makes  a  new  home  in 
Indiana,  6,  7;  helps  his  father,  7,  8; 
the  new  cabin,  9;  a  simple  life, 
9-12;  busy  days  in  helping  his 
father,  12;  his  dress,  13;  the  boy 
and  his  mother,  13,  14;  school 
days,  15,  16;  books  and  reading, 
16-19;  as  a  field  hand,  20,  21; 
story-teller  and  speech-maker,  21, 
22;  his  leadership,  23;  as  a  de 
bater,  24,  25;  goes  on  a  trading 
expedition  to  New  Orleans,  27; 
the  Lincoln  family  go  to  Illinois  to 
live,  29,  30;  starts  out  into  the 
world  for  himself,  34;  makes  an- 


264 


INDEX 


other  trip  to  New  Orleans,  35-38; 
witnesses  a  slave-auction,  38;  goes 
to  New  Salem  to  manage  Offutt's 
store,  38,  39;  the  wrestling-match 
with  Jack  Armstrong,  40;  "Hon 
est  Abe,"  41;  studies  English 
grammar,  42,  43;  his  kindness  and 
generous  spirit  makes  for  him  many 
friends,  43;  goes  to  the  Black 
Hawk  War,  44-48;  defeated  for 
the  legislature,  49;  takes  up  store- 
keeping  with  Berry  as  partner,  50; 
finds  a  copy  of  Blackstone's  "Com 
mentaries,"  51;  appointed  post 
master  of  New  Salem,  52;  he  and 
his  partner,  failing,  sell  out  their 
store,  51,  52;  his  honesty,  54; 
studies  surveying,  54-56;  burning 
desire  to  know  things  clearly  and 
thoroughly,  56;  his  horse,  saddle, 
and  surveying  instruments  sold  in 
payment  of  debts,  57;  elected  to 
the  legislature,  57;  falls  in  love 
with  Ann  Rutledge,  58-61;  elected 
for  a  second  term  to  the  legislature, 
61;  receives  license  to  practise  law 
in  autumn  of  1836,  62;  goes  to 
Springfield  in  spring  of  1837,  62- 
64;  becomes  a  suitor  of  Miss  Mary 
Todd,  whom  he  marries  in  1842,  66- 
68;  in  the  State  legislature  for 
four  successive  terms — from  1834 
to  1842,  68-70;  elected  to  Con 
gress,  70;  his  opposition  to  the 
Mexican  War,  70-72;  introduces  a 
bill  to  abolish  slavery  in  District 
of  Columbia,  72;  retires  from  poli 
tics  and  takes  up  again  the  prac 
tise  of  law,  73,  74;  his  law-office, 
74;  law  practice  on  the  circuit,  74, 
75;  his  care  and  tenderness  for 
helpless  creatures,  75;  his  dress,  76; 
his  good  nature,  77;  life  at  the 
taverns,  78;  a  favorite  of  Judge 
Davis,  79;  his  stories,  79,  80;  his 
great  power  over  a  jury,  80;  un 
able  to  argue  against  his  convic 


tions,  81;  the  Armstrong  case,  81- 
83;  counsel  for  the  Illinois  Central 
Railroad  and  in  a  famous  patent 
case,  83,  84;  books  and  study  once 
more  a  passion  with  him,  84-86; 
as  a  home-maker  and  host,  86;  lives 
a  simple,  natural,  industrious  life, 
87,  88;  deeply  stirred  by  the  repeal 
of  the  Missouri  Compromise  in 
1854,  89,  91;  bitterly  opposed  to 
the  extension  of  slavery  into  new 
States,  92;  his  remarkable  speed  in 
the  Bloomington  convention  in 
1856,  93,  94;  his  leadership  in  the 
Republican  party  in  Illinois,  94; 
his  house-divided-against-itself 
speech  in  1858,  95,  96;  challenges 
Senator  Douglas  to  a  series  of  de 
bates,  96;  the  two  debaters  com 
pared,  97,  98;  the  trying  question 
he  put  to  Douglas,  100,  101;  in 
cidents  in  the  debates,  101-104; 
results  of  the  debates,  104-106; 
the  Cooper  Union  speech,  107-110; 
makes  addresses  in  several  New 
England  cities,  110;  his  nomina 
tion  for  the  presidency,  111-116; 
how  the  nomination  was  received, 
116,  117;  Lincoln  and  the  nomina 
tion,  117;  the  formal  notification, 
117-119;  the  letter  of  acceptance, 
119,  120;  an  enthusiastic  cam 
paign,  120,  121;  his  simple  life  dur 
ing  the  campaign,  121-125;  the 
excitement  of  the  country  over  the 
slavery  question,  123,  124;  in 
flexible  on  the  question  of  extend 
ing  slavery  into  new  States,  126- 
129;  writes  his  inaugural  address, 
131;  farewell  visits  to  his  mother 
and  his  law  partner,  131,  133;  fare 
well  speech  on  leaving  Springfield, 
134,  135;  his  journey  to  Washing 
ton,  135-139;  his  speeches  on  the 
way,  136;  inaugurated,  139-142; 
inaugural  address,  141,  142;  atti 
tude  toward  Lincoln  on  his  becom- 


INDEX 


265 


ing  President,  143,  144f  Lincoln 
and  his  cabinet,  144-150;  Lincoln 
and  Stan  ton,  146;  Lincoln  and 
Seward,  148-150;  Lincoln  and  Fort 
Sumter,  150-153;  declares  the 
South  under  blockade,  153;  Lin 
coln  and  the  "  Trent  Affair,"  157- 
159;  Lincoln  and  his  boys  in  the 
White  House,  159,  160;  his  love 
for  children,  161;  Lincoln  and  Fre 
mont,  163;  Lincoln  and  the  border 
States,  141, 142,  163,  164,  172,  173; 
Lincoln  and  McClellan,  164-172; 
Lincoln  and  Greeley,  176;  good 
feeling  between  him  and  the  peo 
ple,  177,  178;  his  critics  hard  on 
him,  178,  179;  a  remarkable 
cabinet  meeting,  180-182;  Lincoln 
announces  the  Emancipation  Proc 
lamation  on  September  22,  1862, 
183;  he  issues  it  on  January  1, 
1863,  185;  he  appoints  McClellan 
once  more  in  command  of  the 
troops  around  Washington,  188; 
removes  McClellan  from  command, 
191;  Lincoln  and  Burnside,  191, 
192;  Lincoln  and  Hooker,  193- 
197;  the  finding  of  generals  a  per 
plexing  problem,  197;  Lincoln  as  a 
military  leader,  197;  Lincoln  and 
General  Meade,  199-202;  the 
Gettysburg  address,  203-207;  his 
simplicity  and  friendliness,  208- 
221;  his  simple  habits,  208-210; 
always  ready  to  help  those  who 
sought  his  aid,  210,  211;  his  sym 
pathetic  relations  with  the  "Boys 
in  Blue,"  211-221;  Lincoln  in  the 
hospitals,  214-216;  how  he  saved 
the  life  of  William  Scott,  217,  218; 
his  letter  to  Mrs.  Bixby,  219;  his 
tenderness  toward  deserters,  220, 
221;  loyalty  toward  Lincoln,  221; 
his  relations  with  Grant,  222-228; 
his  attitude  toward  re-election,  230; 
his  critics,  231;  his  rivals,  231;  his 
stories,  232,  233;  bitterly  censured, 


234;  dark  outlook  for  re-election, 
235,  236;  Lincoln  and  the  draft, 
237-239;  Lincoln's  re-election,  240; 
his  second  inauguration,  241,  242; 
his  constant  sense  of  duty  and  of 
trust  in  a  higher  power,  242-246; 
visits  Grant's  headquarters  and 
goes  to  Richmond,  247,  248;  his 
plan  of  reconstruction,  249,  250; 
his  heavy  load  during  the  war,  250; 
his  drive  along  the  James  River 
with  Mrs.  Lincoln,  251;  meets  with 
his  cabinet  on  Good  Friday,  253; 
shot  by  J.  Wilkes  Booth,  254-256; 
his  death,  257;  his  body  carried  to 
its  final  resting-place,  258-260;  his 
character  and  greatness,  260,  261 

Lincoln,  Mary  Todd,  66,  138,  248, 

251,  253,  254 

Lincoln,  Nancy  Hanks,  1,  3,  13,  14 
Lincoln,  Robert  Todd,  87,  250 
Lincoln,  Sarah,  20,  29 
Lincoln,  Sarah  Bush  Johnston,  14,  15 
Lincoln,  Thomas,  1-7,  14,  15,  19,  22, 

29 
Lincoln,  Thomas  ("Tad"),  87,  159- 

161 
Lincoln,  William  Wallace,  87, 159-161 

MCCLELLAN,   GEORGE   B.,  83,   164- 

172,  188,  190,  191,  237 
McDowell,  Irvin,  156,  168,  170,  172 
McNeil,  John,  58,  59 
Meade,  George  G.,  199-202 
Missouri  Compromise,  89,  90 

NICOLAY,  JOHN  G.,  150 

PINKERTON,  ALLAN,  137 
Polk,  James  K.,  71 
Popular  sovereignty,  91 

RAYMOND,  HENRY  J.,  235 
Rutledge,  Ann,  58-61 

SCOTT,  WILLIAM,  217,  218 
Scott,  Winfield,  128,  151,  154 


266 


INDEX 


Secession,  133,  154 

Seward,  Frederick,  184 

Seward,  William  H.,  112-115,  146- 

150,  173,  174,  250 
Seymour,  Horatio,  238 
Sheridan,  Philip  H.,  229,  240 
Sherman,  William  T.,  229,  234,  240 
Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  83,  84,  146,  171, 

182,  254,  257 

Stephens,  Alexander  H.,  126 
Stuart,  Major,  62 
Sumter,  Fort,  150-153 


TANEY,  ROGER  B.,  142 
Thomas,  George  H.,  229 
"Trent  Affair,"  157-159 

VICKSBURG,  capture  of,  202 

WASHBURNE,  E.  B.,  128 
Webster,  Daniel,  70 
Weed,  Thurlow,  130,  230 
Welles,  Gideon,  173 
Wilkes,  Charles,  157-159 


14  DAY  USE 

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